Bored, tech-free, and sitting in one of the Fawcett Library classrooms, many Webb students find themselves serving a 7/10 during long lunches. Recently, the line to check into a 7/10 has gotten longer and longer – with more rooms being filled.  

7/10s are consequences students receive when they miss academic and non-academic commitments, as well as committing dorm violations. These include missing class, staying up after lights out, or forgetting to do Saturday check– in.  

The name 7/10 comes from the original punishment, when students were required to stay in their dorm rooms from 7-10 p.m. After evaluation, it was concluded that this punishment was not effective in preventing rule violations because it had little to no impact on a boarder’s typical night, so the punishment shifted to a monitored lunch break in Stockdale 109 last year, in hopes of decreasing the number of students who would receive 7/10s. 

“We decided to keep the name 7/10 because of its familiarity to the student body,” said Steven Galarsa, Attendance Coordinator.  

This year, 7/10s are in the library classrooms, and 7/10s adopted a tech-free policy against the use of all devices. The purpose of this change was to reform the 7/10 from a lunchtime study hall to a punishment more similar to traditional detention. 

“Last year, we would oversee the 7/10s, and it became a place where people would just sit on their phones or do homework. There wasn’t an incentive for students to not get [a 7/10],” said Sarah Lantz, Dean of Students. “With no tech being in the 7/10s and served at long lunch, this is a consequence that most students wouldn’t want to have.” 

Unfortunately, what is now happening is the opposite of what admin intended: more and more Webbies have received 7/10s to the point where most large classrooms in the library have become packed with students during Monday and Wednesday long lunch, often interfering with club meetings. 

“During Monday and Wednesday, long lunches are when clubs usually have their meetings. I feel like there’s a lot of scheduling conflicts because of 7/10s held [during] long lunches.” Sophie Lin (‘26) said. 

This scheduling frees up more time for the faculty monitoring these 7/10s; however, it also inevitably results in a greater number of students serving 7/10s at a time. 

“You’ll know you got a 7/10 when you receive an email form Mr. Galarsa, specifying why you received one and when you are scheduled to serve it.” Frannie Hinch (‘25) said. “I like that 7/10s are in the library this year, but it is crowded.” 

These emails can list up to 60 students at a time assigning different abbreviations for the infraction they made. However, many students may be unsure of what violation they made. Here is the rundown for what each abbreviation stands for: 

Even though the recent surge of students receiving 7/10s has raised some concern, Mr. Galarsa is confident that soon enough these numbers will eventually drop after all the accumulated 7/10s from break are served.  

“Students often have reasons they can’t attend their 7/10, like mandatory health and living meetings, club meetings, so they accumulate over time,” Mr. Galarsa said.  

Especially during the period returning from Thanksgiving break, when students received 7/10s for keeping their keycard or failing their room check during the break, it is no surprise that many students are crowding rooms in the library. 

As we prepare to head into winter break, it is unclear whether this influx of penalized students will continue – this should be a reminder for students to continue meeting their school commitments to avoid the unpleasant task of spending their lunch serving a 7/10.