Despite its ban from campus, Senior Assassin has remained a staple tradition for many years as a lighthearted way to make memories in the final stretch of high school. In the game, teams of three seniors eliminate opposing teams with water guns, and the last group standing wins a cash prize of $2,100.

However, from March 1-3, several players sent misogynistic messages to classmates in the game’s group chat and posted memes on its Instagram account, making fun of them. These were taken down after multiple students reported the incident to the deans, who then sent out an email emphasizing the game’s ban on campus.

The first comments were made after the Senior Assassin organizers made Little Saint James, formerly Jeffrey Epstein’s private island where he conducted child sex trafficking, a safe zone that granted players immunity. In response, senior Gabriel Nelson said, “that’s disgusting,” which he said was dismissed as an overreaction.

“I’m used to being the person that’s too woke or takes things too deeply, but I was frustrated at not being taken seriously,” Nelson said. “People don’t take sexual assault, especially when it comes to women and children, very seriously. I thought there should be some indication that it’s not funny.”

After protesting the $700 cut the organizer took from the prize pool, multiple female students were also met with comments such as “You can help me by speaking only when spoken to” and “Society should return to the 1800s,” implying that women’s rights should not exist.

Despite these damaging messages, senior Ashna Yadav said many members did not defend the girls who spoke out, with some liking the disrespectful comments.

“It’s a large group chat, and people get nervous [texting in it], but I was disappointed that 100 guys and 100 girls all saw what was said and either hearted the messages or said nothing,” Yadav said. “It was a reminder of how many people are letting people act the way they act and get away with it.”

The Epitaph interviewed another group chat member, who has chosen to remain anonymous due to concerns of harassment, and will be referred to as Riley. Pushing for rejection of the misogyny, Riley said they reported the incident to the deans on March 2.

“While [the perpetrator] could get away with being like, ‘Oh, it wasn’t misogynistic. I could say that to a man,’ the issue was that he was specifically choosing to assault women,” Riley said. “Even though I wasn’t personally attacked, I felt like it was an attack on women as a whole.”

After obtaining screenshots of the messages, senior Scarlett Ozturk said she showed them and further explained the situation to the deans on the same day as Riley.

The following day, senior Sparsh Gupta, the game organizer, said the deans called him into the office to discuss how he needed to more strictly enforce rules of conduct.

“It’s my first time running something like this, so I didn’t anticipate people talking a lot,” Gupta said. “Then, it got out of hand with everyone trying to speak their mind. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but there’s a time and place to share it, and that group chat was not the place.”

Because the comments are classified as cyberbullying, principal Denae Nurnberg said the deans spoke with responsible individuals to explain their comments’ negative implications.

“Our job isn’t to come in and be like, ‘You’re suspended.’ Nobody loves that,” Nurnberg said. “It’s trying to help kids learn, like, ‘Let’s not do this anymore, ‘Please be a good human’ and ‘Be kind to one another.’”

After showing additional meme posts to the deans on Tuesday, Ozturk said she felt her concerns were not acknowledged. Ozturk said she went to the deans three times and spoke with Nurnberg, but ultimately felt dissatisfied due to continued offensive comments by students.

“To see how little the school has supported students, sends a message to the victims of how [they] value their feelings,” Ozturk said. “It’s harmful for students to have to share a space with people who believe they are entitled to insult their existence.”

Nurnberg said that because the members’ actions were not in violation of the California Education Code, they could not enforce greater disciplinary action.

“We met with the students who were affected by the issue, [students] were also saying things that were inappropriate in the group chat, and addressed it right away,” Nurnberg said. “We are open to feedback if there is something more [those affected] would like for us to address.”

The deans declined to comment because Senior Assassin is not a school-affiliated event.

For the remainder of Senior Assassin, however, Nurnberg said she hopes students will treat each other more kindly and remain safe.

“It’s a fun activity that [seniors] do nowadays, but it can’t come at the expense of our campus culture and just being nice to one another,” Nurnberg said. “It should be fun, not like ‘I’m out for blood.’ The social fabric of HHS should not be eroded as a result of Senior Assassin.”

This story was originally published on The Epitaph on April 6, 2026.