Working with the McDonald Center for Student Well-Being, Duncan Hall hosted its signature Jorts for Joey event on Friday, Oct. 3. This time around was the dorm’s third time hosting the event.
The first Jorts for Joey event took place in the spring of 2024, just months after the death of Joey Harris, who graduated from the University in the spring of 2023 and committed suicide in January 2024.
Preparations for the event, led by Duncan Hall health and wellness commissioner Emerson Carella, began this past spring. Duncan Highlanders volunteered at the event by working the table, promoting mental health resources and assisting with jeans cutting.
Peer listeners and University counselors were also present at the event to provide information. Those who visited their booth could donate $10 to purchase a pair of jeans to cut into jean shorts, or jorts. The proceeds from the event benefitted Movember, a nonprofit dedicated to men’s mental health and suicide prevention.
Duncan Hall president Gabe Angaiak spoke to the event’s significance.
“It’s more than just raising money for mental health through Movember. It’s in remembrance of a guy that really stood for what Duncan Hall was,” Angaiak said. “He was a great guy. Everyone in the dorm loved him. He’s the type of dude that started a culture in Duncan Hall … You just have an open heart, and that’s who Joey was. I feel like this event really remembers that about Joey and instills that into Duncan Hall, even now that he’s passed.”
According to Duncan residents, Harris was known for wearing jorts with his green blazer every Friday before a home game. His act of inviting his section to cut up their jeans to wear together at the beginning of the school year served as the inspiration for the event.
This year, Harris’ phrase, “Love you, brother,” was inscribed in Duncan freshmen’s green blazers to commemorate Harris.
Elio Carella, a former Duncan Hall resident and 2024 University graduate, lived in the same section as Harris for multiple years. He shared that the hall was in disbelief after hearing news of Harris’ death and emphasized their resolve to “do something” in honor of someone who did so much for Duncan Hall.
Elio Carella recalled how the hall’s rector took initiative by “funding a project to make a special bench and memorial outside the dorm for Joey,” making known the mental health struggles Harris faced before his passing.
“There is a stigma behind [mental health], and it’s unfortunate. That’s why I think that it’s so important, because I don’t think people should be afraid to talk about it,” Elio Carella said. “That is one of the big things about Duncan: That the guys in there could always help each other … and work together.”
According to Elio Carella, Harris is remembered as “very welcoming, happy and enjoyable to be around,” with Duncan residents remembering Harris as always having his door open and inviting people to come in and chat. Duncan Hall’s motto is ‘Brotherhood, Community and Respect,’ which Elio Carella noted Harris embodied.
“He wanted everyone to feel a part of the dorm … and I think that’s what the Duncan Hall motto is about,” he said. “Joey treated every person that he interacted with like they were family … If I were to choose a handful of people in both my and his class, I would say he’s definitely one of the top people that could have represented the dorm and what it stands for … He was able to bring people together.”
