Kathryn Querner ‘22
Features Editor
Jessie Goodman ‘22
Guest Writer
February…
It’s a month of simp behavior (some people use the term “love,” but I’m not one to believe in unicorns) • Age of Aquarius • Start of Pisces season (let’s gooooo) • And for others, it is simply 28 days of bitter cold (much like my heart).
And maybe if you weren’t at the 8th BeSt LaW sChOoL iN tHe NaTiOn, then you may find one of the above descriptions applicable. But, as a LawHoo, you have waived any right to a “normal” February. Rather, as a student of this renowned institution, you have subjected yourself to a full month of debauchery fused with degeneracy. Put differently, February at UVA Law means Feb Club, and the only way out is to rage your way into the month of March.
So, aside from what Ian Clemens ’22, describes as a “celebration and worsening of UVA Law’s collective drinking problem by hosting organized themed parties every night of February,” what is Feb Club?
Historically, Feb Club is a series of 28 (or, on a leap year, 29) parties, one every night for the entire month of February. This February, to be consistent with UVA Law’s protocol that Law School events be online or outdoors until February 4, Feb Club Feeling 2022 will kick off on February 4 and run through the 28th.
The NGSL-sponsored event is open to all Law students, and everyone is encouraged to show up. It’s a great opportunity to get to know new LawHoos. And, if you don’t believe me, then maybe you’ll believe it if it is explained by someone much cooler than me. J. Carr Gamble ’22 explains that Feb Club is “a time to make new friends and meet more of the upper classes, and for 2Ls and 3Ls it’s a great opportunity to catch up with old friends and make some memories together before graduation.” But aside from ~making memzzz~, “participation from student organizations is always a big plus.”
Frances Asbury ’22 and Caroline Spadaro ’22 were tasked with coordinating the event dates, and sent around a schedule containing all of the information about the parties. If you didn’t receive the schedule by email, it was also posted in each of the class GroupMes. Feb Club events are hosted by a number of student organizations as well as some being private parties at various Law students’ houses. This year, 12 of the parties are hosted by student organizations. The hosts are in charge of planning the event, choosing the theme, and picking a location for their designated night. The event-planners encourage students to continue to check the spreadsheet as events and locations are updated frequently.
And for those events that are RSVP only, they are typically for smaller houses that just want to ensure they are not overcrowded. It’s not meant to be any sort of deterrent, just send over an email to the address listed on the spreadsheet for those events.
This heavy emphasis on student organization participation lends encouragement to law students being more involved. So much so that if you attend all Feb Club events, you are deemed to have successfully completed an “Ironman.” After an unimpressive attendance record his 1L year, and a canceled season his 2L year (like, actually, why do we have pandemics?), Trace Larabee ’22, has committed to bringing his A-game this year. He explains that this year's Feb Club “might be my first and only chance to compete in an Ironman. I’m taking the training seriously.”
Now, if you find yourself wanting to participate in the month-long shenanigans, but know that a completed Ironman is not within your purview, then how do you decide which events to attend? Well, __[insert naive 1L or uninformed 2L’s name here]__, I’m glad that you asked. Simply put, all the events are awesome, and I encourage everyone to shoot for an Ironman. If you do want to limit your raging quota, but also want to get the most out of the month, it would behoove you to attend, what I like to call, the “big 3” of Feb Club events – LAMBDA RAGERRRRR, Barrister’s Ball, and Das Klüb. And, since Frances and Caroline are event-planning superstars, the Big 3 are appropriately spread out throughout the month to give you recovery time between events.
Gamble further shared that he is “personally looking forward to Lambda’s annual rager. I think everyone appreciates the event in their own way, but I couldn’t imagine Law School without it” (we! love! supportive! allies!). The man doesn’t lie, but I encourage you to check out what the hype is about for yourself.
Barrister’s Ball typically falls right in the middle of Feb Club. This year it is scheduled for February 19, and is Vegas themed (so whatever happens, stays ;) ). As an iconic night filled with formal attire, live music, excessive amounts of hors d’oeuvre (pinky up), and sticky dance floors (you guys really need to learn to stop spilling your drinks), it’s no wonder that Barrister’s tends to be a Feb Club highlight for many of your fellow colleagues, peers, and degenerates.
Das Klüb is THE finale of finales. Except I, much like half of the 3L class, only know how celebrated this event is through second-hand storytelling (shoutout first weekend of journal tryouts during Das Klüb…). After hearing everything I had missed that night, I implemented a ban on any Das Klüb discussion due to the devastating FOMO I kept experiencing. But today, that ban is lifted, because I, much like my other classmates who also drowned in FOMO, can confidently say that we will be at Das Klüb this year. We can finally experience (and will likely forget), the night-long dance party fueled by strobe lights and hype house music in a ~Klüb~ venue dedicated to just us hooligans of UVA Law. And if you do it right, you’ll wake up the next morning with a hangover to last you all the way through March.
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