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Tradition. This semester has certainly seen its share of new ones - a top three football team, greeting the football team at 4 a.m. after a game, and now, the Homecoming Dance. The Undergraduate Government of Boston College cemented the homecoming tradition last weekend, hosting a sell-out, semiformal dance Saturday night. Held in the Mod Lot - the site of massive celebrations following the victory over Virginia Tech just two nights before - Homecoming drew 1,300 students who braved threatening clouds and danced the night away in three tents full of food and drinks.
In just its third year, the homecoming dance has become one of the most popular events of the year, attracting students from all classes and selling out within days. "The idea is that we want to build traditions just like athletics wants to build tradition," said Dan Sievers, UGBC vice president and A&S '08. "Homecoming is still a relatively new thing, but it's something that you can look to consistently each year."
And a tradition it has become. The tents seemed to burst at the seams with students who had waited hours to buy tickets and even more students who were left outside after the venue sold out. Part of the attraction, said Erica Reisenwitz, executive director of Campus Programming and A&S '08, is the event's unique location on campus - even though the location was first used because BC's ban from using Boston-area hotels. "This is going to be cemented as a new tradition in the Mod Lot. People really like having it on campus. They don't have to worry about the bus or traveling," she said.
Reisenwitz and other officials called the dance one of the UGBC's best and most seamless events. "This year it has helped that students have approached these events with a different attitude. Kids are really wanting to have fun and students are learning to be more conscious of their behavior," said Reisenwitz, alluding to last year's dance, which sent dozens of students to the infirmary.
"This was one of the best years in terms of student behavior. Last year we had over 30 kids go to the infirmary," said Alex Gerrish, assistant director of Campus Programming and CSOM '09.
Sievers said only two students were sent to the infirmary during the dance this year, a fact that may allow the venue to grow in size as the UGBC builds a sense of trust with the administration.
The administration allowed the UGBC to sell 1,300 tickets this year, an increase of 100 from last year. Still, Ali Dvoskin, director of special events and CSOM '09, said demand by far exceeded supply. "The biggest difficulty this year was not having enough tickets for all of the people who wanted to go. A lot of people and a lot of seniors were not able to get tickets. But we had to open it to the entire school," Dvoskin said.
Despite the constraints, student feedback was positive, and the UGBC looks to continue the homecoming dance in the Mod lot for years to come. "The tradition of having a dance that you will see almost everybody you know makes it an unforgettable event," said Jenniffer Castillo, president of the UGBC and A&S '08. "Having it on campus makes it more of a 'homecoming.'"
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