Super Mash Bros. Sell out the Plex

On Friday, Oct. 21, the UGBC hosted Plexapalooza featuring Super Mash Bros., 5&A Dime, and Boston College's own ILO Productions.

According to John King, director of public safety, a total of 10 patients were assessed for apparent intoxication. "Six were transported to St. Elizabeth's Hospital, two were transported to the infirmary, and two were released to a sober adult party after an evaluation period," King said. "There was one assault reported, which is being investigated by the BCPD."

Mike Zarrilli, executive director of campus entertainment for UGBC and CSOM '12, said, "Relative to the numbers that we usually see in Conte, the Plex show numbers are low. If you use historical numbers from the past few concerts, 1,300 students in Conte would translate to a little over double the amount of transports that we had at Plexapalooza. I think this can largely be attributed to the setup of the event, as there is more open space and walking around in Conte."

"From the numbers of alcohol-related transports, it looks like Plexapalooza was right in line with previous Plex shows," Zarrilli said.

The low number of transports may be related to the hype surrounding the event. With the moratorium placed on large-scale concerts in Conte Forum, students were warned that their behavior at the Plex event could affect the overall future of these of types events on campus.

Before Plexapalooza, Zarrilli was told by administrators with the Student Programs Office that "an unusually high number of transports at the Plex Show could significantly set [UGBC] back in getting the concert moratorium lifted," and Zarrilli said that he hoped "students [would] take this into consideration and act responsibly both before and at the event."

Zarrilli was also one of four members of UGBC who signed an e-mail that was sent leading up to the Plex show. This e-mail, one of two sent to those students who purchased tickets to the event, reminded students that "A lot of alcohol-related transports from [the] event could jeopardize all large-scale programming on campus."

"We love being able put on entertaining events and we hope that Plexapalooza is one of many this school year," read the UGBC letter.

The second e-mail was sent by the Student Programs Office (SPO) and included a list of resources and policies to assure that students were fully informed before they arrived at Plexapalooza.

"We hope you are excited to be attending the Plexaplooza dance sponsored by UGBC in the Plex tonight," the letter read. "All members of SPO want you to have a good time and to stay safe. We are writing in response to recent feedback at the State of the Heights, and ask that you take a moment to review the resources that are available to you."

Like other on-campus events, the Plex show was staffed by members of BC's Eagle EMS emergency medical technicians, with Armstrong ambulances, and crew standing by outside to transport patients. There was a medical tent set up outside of the Plex for the event, and "the St. Elizabeth's Medical Center staff was notified prior to the event and was prepared to receive extra patients as well," said Chris Faherty, president of Eagle EMS and A&S '13.

"[Eagle EMS's] priority is to ensure anyone seeking or requiring medical attention receives the best and most appropriate emergency care possible," he said. "I'm happy to say that we accomplished this seamlessly on Friday night at the event."

Zarrilli shared Faherty's sentiment. "Overall, we think the event went pretty well," he said. "Everything ran smoothly and from the feedback that I've gotten from some students who attended, everyone seemed to have a great time."

King agreed. "Generally speaking, the concert planning went well and there was very good collaboration during the event among organizers,BCPD, Eagle EMS, Armstrong Ambulance, and Team Ops," he said. "This helped to contribute to the success of the event."

Zarrilli said he does not yet know how the administration feels about the number of transports from the event. "I haven't yet had the chance to debrief with administrators about the show, so I'm not certain about its implication on future events," he said. "However, I personally don't think that anything happened that would change the status of our large-scale programming."