A poor showing in an Undergraduate Council initiative encouraging students to wear pajamas yesterday reopened debate on the merits of the council's Spirit Week.

According to Vladimir A. Kleyman '02, who has organized the weeklong project for the council, many students who might have worn pajamas yesterday didn't do so for reasons beyond the council's control.

Other council members, however, cited the anemic number of pajama wearers as evidence that Spirit Week was doomed to failure from the start.

Spirit Week, a council-run project that includes five themed dress-up days and a St. Patrick's Day dance on Saturday, is intended to increase school spirit among students and faculty members.

The cold weather and a student-led initiative to wear black to protest the verdict in New York's Amadou Diallo case might have kept some from showing their school spirit, Kleyman said.

Nehal S. Patel '01, who is co-chair of the Campus Life Committee (CLC), wore pajamas underneath warmer clothes today. She suggested in an e-mail message that there may have been more students participating than it might have appeared.

"It is hard to tell who just dressed frumpy because it [was] a Monday and who actually did so intentionally for Spirit Week," Patel wrote.

She also said that many students did not know about Spirit Week and that she hopes there will be more participation later in the week, after council members spread the word.