Coffin and Keys Slips UNR Freshmen A Rag
Faith Evans reports on how one student now harbors concern over a newsletter he received from the long standing anonymous group, after initially thinking it was simply an offbeat joke. Other students also shared unease, while students in Greek Life voiced appreciation.
Concerns on How Newsletter Got Into Dorms
In his first two weeks as a freshman at UNR, Spencer Spicer has received three notes slid underneath the door of his suite in Peavine Hall. The first was a social media promo from a fellow resident and hopeful Instagram influencer. The second set came as an uninvited pair on Tuesday evening: two copies of a letter to the class of 2024 signed by Coffin and Keys, an anonymous group on campus.
The letter itself reads like a vulgar piece of satire. Spicer pointed out phrases like “hit the gym and fill out that shmedium shirt,” and “use your parents’ credit card to buy tinder gold.” These, he says, bothered him, especially in the context of the situation: Peavine Hall has been closed to all visitors since the beginning of the school year, due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions.
“It seemed like a joke at first,” Spicer said, discussing the newsletter itself, along with its distribution. “I’m just very concerned that they were able to do that in the dorms.”
Spicer’s roommate, Matthew Lacoff, elaborated on that feeling of concern. “If they can get into Peavine, then they can get into any dorm…that means that anybody can get into the dorms if they try,” he said. He pointed out that, though the letter itself is problematic, there is also a larger safety issue at play.
The Reynolds Sandbox reached out to Coffin and Keys, as well as Residential Life, Food Services and Housing for comments, but had received no response as of Friday morning.
Above the website for Coffin and Keys, which according to its About page has been around since 1916. “So then, why do we keep the veil of secrecy?” it writes. “Because only in darkness can the truth flourish.” Below a 2013 video attributed to the group.
A First Exposure to a Group with a Long, Controversial History
The letter marks many freshmen’s first exposure to CK; though, the group has been on campus for over a century. It supposedly consists of 10 men recruited from the various leadership organizations throughout UNR. Four times a year, they publish a newsletter regarding campus ongoings.
They also make campus appearances in full facial masks, which backfired horribly in 2015 when they encountered a student, Hope Loudon, in the Knowledge Center parking lot at midnight. They held out an object toward Loudon (which they later claimed was a newsletter), but she was intimidated by the gesture, as well as their masks, and thought that they were about to mug her. She ran and screamed for help, and later filed a Title IX complaint with the university. There were initial media reports on the complaint, but no subsequent ones on how it concluded.
Coffin and Keys received sharp criticism from The Nevada Sagebrush for this event in particular, as well as their newsletter content. One critique that the Sagebrush ran twice between 2014 and 2015 is that CK consistently “[crosses] the fine line between constructive criticism and blatant obscenity.”
Dominique Hall, the current elected president of the Associated Students of the University of Nevada rebuked the group and its involvement on campus. “Historically, ASUN does not condone Coffin and Keys, and it has always been that way,” she said.
It’s worth noting that Hall has been the target of criticism in past editions of CK’s newsletter.
ASUN and CK Entanglements of the Past
Moreover, ASUN and CK have a tangled history. Multiple reports confirm that in May of 2014 ASUN president Jake Pereira accidentally outed himself as a member and faced an impeachment trial (though the motion to impeach did not pass). His vice president, Alex Bybee, came out as an ex CK member later in August of the same year.
Thus, the group is entrenched in negative appraisal from multiple campus organizations, students and faculty. However, there are students who, overall, maintain an appreciation for CK’s work: namely those who participate in Greek Life.
As evidenced from their social media posts (and student anecdotes), CK attends Greek Life events to pass out their newsletters, participate in fundraising, and hand out flowers to sorority members.
“I think they have their place in Greek Life and on this campus,” said Devansh Mehra, a Theta Chi member and CK newsletter reader. He mentioned that it’s definitely irritating for those who have been the subject of CK’s criticism, but he said that he finds the idea of CK, and the anonymous aspect, all very cool, which is not an uncommon sentiment among students.
This appraisal may reflect a larger national trend. A growing number of leaders and media consumers value news from anonymous sources, harboring the feeling that anonymity allows sources greater authenticity. This certainly aligns with one of CK’s mantras: “only in darkness can truth flourish.”
But, for the letter recipients in Peavine, this sentiment does not ring true.
“Coffin and Keys may not be explicitly violent, but there’s a lot of evidence that shows that language that endorses hateful ideas leads to violence,” Lacoff said. “Their publications empower and encourage hateful people, and that’s just as bad in my book.”
