“When will there be a dance?” is a question my fellow student event planners and I face every day. The truth is, I don’t know. Each week we plan free, on-campus events for the entire student body and in the past, a dance has always been a safe option.
However, recent events have changed our outlook on how “safe” dances are. The last few end-of-the-year dances we have held have developed into events that we have a hard time being proud of.
In the past two years the number of students in attendance while under the influence has been too high, causing an unsafe environment for everyone involved. While we are aware that this is common and usually are able to contain the chaos with the help of CPS, at the end of the year dance last May, a record amount of sexual assault and misconduct was reported.
For an event that happened three days directly after Sexual Assault Awareness Month, that is more than upsetting. ACE Board is in the process of finding a way to still host dances for the students all the same, but administration is urging us to change how we monitor the behavior of the students in attendance.
I would like to personally invite anyone with an opinion about this issue to speak up. ACE Board isn’t the only voice that can be heard to reach a resolution. If you would like to discuss your ideas, frustrations, or other thoughts, please share them with us!
ACE Board meets every Tuesday at 11:30 a.m. in McCormick 125, or you can email me at cuev5396@pacificu.edu. If there is an abundance of responses, we are willing to host an open forum with the students and representatives from CPS, Pacific’s administration and the student body. We would love to bring the dances back to campus, but we need your help to do so.
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