THE TUFTS DAILY
10
THE TUFTS DAILY
EDITORIAL
Lessons from Fall Ball
BENJAMIN D. GITTLESON Editor-in-Chief
EDITORIAL Managing Editors
Ellen Kan Carter Rogers Matt Repka Executive News Editor Alexandra Bogus News Editors Michael Del Moro Nina Ford Amelie Hecht Corinne Segal Martha Shanahan Brent Yarnell Jenny White Daphne Kolios Assistant News Editors Kathryn Olson Romy Oltuski Executive Features Editor Sarah Korones Features Editors Alison Lisnow Emilia Luna Alexa Sasanow Derek Schlom Jon Cheng Assistant Features Editors Maya Kohli Amelia Quinn Emma Bushnell Executive Arts Editor Zach Drucker Arts Editors Mitchell Geller Rebecca Goldberg Benjamin Phelps Anna Majeski Assistant Arts Editors Rebecca Santiago Matthew Welch Rachel Oldfield Laura Moreno Devon Colmer Erin Marshall Lorrayne Shen Louie Zong Rebekah Liebermann Seth Teleky
Executive Op-Ed Editor Op-Ed Editors Cartoonists
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Monday, September 13, 2010
EDITORIAL | LETTERS
Fall Ball, an annual campus-wide dance party, met with great success on Friday, with fewer alcohol-related incidents and a generally cleaner and classier atmosphere. For many freshmen, their first major introduction to life at Tufts came as a welcome reprieve from the stress of the first week of classes, yet for upperclassmen who have attended Fall Balls of years past, the lead-up to the event proved somewhat disappointing. After a wild and crazy 2008 event marked by a high rate of alcohol-related incidents and instances of unbecoming behavior, organizers from the Office for Campus Life and Programming Board worked hard to reduce students’ levels of drunken behavior at last year’s dance. Notably, Fall Ball 2009 saw the arrival of tickets required for admission, an improvement over previous years when anyone with a Tufts identification card could attend and room capacity regulations went largely ignored. A stricter eye toward inebriated attendees and inappropriate conduct accompanied the new ticketing system. This year, organizers responded to criticism of last year’s long, slow-moving lines for tickets outside Mayer Campus Center. Three people handed out tickets at the front of the line, scanning IDs as they went; last year, just one person was on hand to check off names from a printed-out list. In addition, staffers gave the first 600 people in line each day slips of paper that indicated that
they, and not those who arrived later, would receive tickets. Just like last year, Fall Ball this year was smartly incorporated into “First Friday,” a night full of programming including the popular R-rated hypnotist show. Encouraging students to attend programs before Fall Ball cleverly limits the amount of alcohol consumed directly before the dance, yet it remains possible that many of the other First Friday event attendees might not have been planning to head to a massive dance party anyway. For all the positive changes, though, shortfalls in the ticketing system prevented Fall Ball from reaching its true potential. Hourslong lines throughout last week stretched down Professors Row nearly to College Ave., with students waking up early and wasting large chunks of a busy first week of the semester waiting in line. Many upperclassmen who had enjoyed the lax atmosphere of previous Fall Balls pooh-poohed the idea of waiting in line, while underclassmen who had known no other system saw hundreds of students waiting for tickets and jumped in line without thinking twice. People still cut the lines before and after they received the slips of paper, and organizers were not clear about whether students had to wait around even after they had received the slips. A clear solution to the limited chaos could come in the form of online ticketing. While
creating a Web distribution system could be difficult, useful online platforms may already be available. Although the packed lines of chattering students down Professors Row each day of last week did create significant hype, Fall Ball garners enough excitement on its own. As the system moves online, blocks of time designated for certain students would replace lines. More than enough tickets could be made available to seniors for three hours on the Tuesday morning preceding Fall Ball, for example. And seniors and freshmen should receive priority. Seniors should have a chance to easily sign up to attend their final Fall Ball, and freshmen should not be deprived of their first grand welcome to undergraduate life. Plenty of tickets would be left over for sophomores and juniors possibly for distribution via the current system at the campus center; those who missed out would be guaranteed a ticket senior year. Another option would be to borrow some aspects of the Senior Week ticketing system, in which seniors receive a lottery number and may sign themselves and some of their friends up for different events. Despite the work remaining to be done, this year’s Fall Ball was clearly a classier version of previous years’ pandemonium. We are grateful to organizers for turning Fall Ball around and making it the semester kickoff it is supposed to be, instead of the condomcarpeted carouse of 2008.
LORRAYNE SHEN
Philip Dear Executive Sports Editor Lauren Flament Sports Editors Jeremy Greenhouse Claire Kemp Ben Kochman Alex Lach Alex Prewitt Daniel Rathman Noah Schumer Ethan Sturm Assistant Sports Editor Aalok Kanani Meredith Klein Danai Macridi Andrew Morgenthaler Tien Tien Josh Berlinger Virginia Bledsoe Kristen Collins Alex Dennett Emily Eisenberg Dilys Ong Jodi Bosin Jenna S Liang Meagan Maher Ashley Seenauth
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Mick B. Krever Executive New Media Editor James Choca New Media Editors Kerianne Okie
PRODUCTION Leanne Brotsky Production Director Andrew Petrone Executive Layout Editor Sarah Davis Layout Editors Adam Gardner Jason Huang Jennifer Iassogna Alyssa Kutner Steven Smith Sarah Kester Assistant Layout Editor Zehava Robbins Executive Copy Editor Alexandra Husted Copy Editors Isabel Leon Vivien Lim Linh Dang Assistant Copy Editors Si Kyun Im Andrew Paseltiner Melissa Roberts Elisha Sum Darcy Mann Executive Online Editor Audrey Kuan Online Editors Ann Sloan Ammar Khaku Executive Technical Manager Michael Vastola Technical Manager
BUSINESS Benjamin Hubbell-Engler Executive Business Director
FROM THE DAILY’S ARCHIVES...
Tufts commemorates a somber anniversary BY JAMIE COX Editor’s note: The edited excerpts of the following article, written by then-Daily Editorial Board member Jamie Cox, originally appeared in the Sept. 13, 2002, issue of the Daily. A year after the university community joined together in horror and in mourning, students, faculty and administrators gathered again in front of Ballou Hall on Sept. 11, 2002, to remember last year’s tragedy. Although the shock has begun to fade, the continuing need for community was apparent from the turnout of roughly 850 people at the Academic Quad memorial service. University Chaplain David O’Leary opened the “Service of Remembrance,” which began at 5 p.m., by asking for a moment of silence. He then spoke about the “university family” and the way in which it joined with others throughout the
country in response to Sept. 11. On behalf of Imam Noureddine Hawat, Tufts’ Muslim chaplain who could not be at the service, O’Leary read a passage from a book entitled “Islamic Way of Life” that said religion “declares that all people in the world are sprung from the same parents, and therefore are equal.” The chaplain also shared a fitting passage from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah that read, “nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” O’Leary highlighted the civilians, police, firefighters, families of the victims and other people affected by last year’s events and said it is important to “remember we are a global village.” Calling the Sept. 11 attacks “unspeakable acts committed against ordinary people,” University President Lawrence Bacow said the victims “were guilty only of being in the wrong place at the wrong
time.” Bacow spoke of the lesson learned from the tragedies of the importance of community and of the fragility of life. “If there is a lesson in this tragedy, it is that we must savor every minute and make the most of what we have,” Bacow said… Bacow said he was pleased with the turnout at the memorial service, as well as at Wednesday’s other campus events. He described the mood on campus as “contemplative.” “People have paused and thought about things in a way that they normally don’t do in their daily lives,” Bacow said… The service’s purpose was to bring the community together, Rabbi Jeffrey Summit said, adding that the community had a responsibility to do so. “Communities have to mark important times that we’ve all lived through together. This was a way to not let this pass,” he said.
Dwijo Goswami Receivables Manager
Correction The Tufts Daily is a nonprofit, independent newspaper, published Monday through Friday during the academic year, and distributed free to the Tufts community. P.O. Box 53018, Medford, MA 02155 617 627 3090 FAX 617 627 3910 daily@tuftsdaily.com
The Matriculation Issue article “Trayless initiative makes its way to dining halls this fall” misquoted junior Cory Faragon. The phrase in the middle of the quote, “Instead of simply informing students about the choice at hand and the environmental results of not using a tray, it coerces an effect and students are not permitted to make that choice,” should have read “it coerces in effect.”
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