It felt like a Jersey Shore nightclub, with homeschoolers. Bubbles sprayed students in the face, neon lights blinded them, and TV screens continuously flashed one or maybe two words of each song being played by the elite DJ Polo. A photo booth and cash bar completed the whole shebang. As students failed to teach themselves to Dougie while confetti fell from the large, metal structures set up around the dance floor, we found ourselves asking the question — Is this a good use of $5,000 of student fees?
To put it in perspective, the Tower Light budget is about $5,500 each semester. Now, there’s no way everyone reads the Tower Light, just like not everyone attends plays and football games. But a few hours of a few hundred people dancing, drinking, and being ironically awkward doesn’t strike us a comparable investment to 13 weeks of writing, editing, and assembling in the pursuit of a piece of art.
Last year, Student Federation had just under $20,000 of surplus money for discretionary spending. Which is reassuring, but does Hillsdale really need another dance? We have the President’s Ball and the Garden Party, a dozen or so Greek date events, the SAI ball, the Regency ball, the Cheese ball, Welcome Party, weekly swing dancing, and the jazz afterglows. Most of these are pretty awkward, but most of them also get their funding elsewhere than the collective student fees. What was the rationale, again, for dropping five grand on another one during the busiest month of the semester just a few weeks before Centralhallapalooza? Maybe we should send out a survey to find out what percentage of campus actually enjoyed it, or even went.
We understand student events are fun, and we don’t begrudge everyone the entertaining night they had. But since the question of where to cut back on spending comes up every year around this time, Awkward Prom would be a good place to start.
