In the wake of the disaster that was this fall's inaugural Senior Pub Night, many were skeptical about the decision to schedule a similar event last week. Halloween Club Night, however, defied expectations as a showcase of exemplary behavior — on the part of college students, at least.
Instead of being characterized by the conduct of a rowdy, belligerent, disrespectful and overly intoxicated contingency, Halloween Club Night demonstrated that the Class of 2010 — and perhaps the Tufts student body as a whole — may have recognized one important fact: being destructively drunk was becoming known as a hallmark of students' behavior, and this must be stopped.
Unlike Senior Pub Night, Halloween Club Night was organized independently of the Senior Class Council and therefore included some additional security and safety measures that were absent during Senior Pub Night. Seniors Kevin Wong and Raoul Alwani, the event's organizers, went out of their way to provide — and require attendees to read — a clear set of guidelines governing behavior at the event.
Additionally, to further ensure that students maintained appropriate conduct, security officers were hired for the rides to and from Ned Divine's Irish Pub. The bigger space and classier atmosphere of the venue must also have inspired a sense of decorum in those attending. And, of course, after innumerable attacks from the administration, fellow students and even the Daily for misbehavior at Senior Pub Night, the attendees had extra incentive to be on their best behavior.
The relative smoothness of Halloween Club Night has hopefully given the naysayers, especially those in the administration, something to mull over. While one instance of good manners might not be enough to change Tufts' new alcohol policy or allay all concerns about pub nights, it does do some justice to the argument that Tufts students are responsible enough to be involved in the policy-making process and don't need constant babysitting or punishment to act like adults. Additionally, for the success of Halloween Club Night to carry over into other events, the Senior Class Council should consider adopting the methods of Wong and Alwani, putting more emphasis on atmosphere, security and guidelines.
It should be noted, however, that while the Daily is thrilled to be able to commend good behavior, the responsible, level-headed and respectful conduct that made Halloween Club Night such a success should not be so noteworthy. It is not unreasonable for the university, Senior Class Council or fellow students to require respectfulness, no matter what the event. And while Wong and Alwani's emphasis on concrete rules (such as, "If you are deemed unfit for [the return trip on] the official shuttles, you are required to leave the vicinity of the venue and find your own way home at your own cost," and, "Bus marshals may also stop the bus mid-journey and eject you if they feel you are compromising the safety of other passengers") represents a wise and responsible move, one cannot help but feel a bit disheartened that, after numerous pub nights in recent years turned into melees, it finally came to this level of regulation.
While the impact of Halloween Club Night on future events remains uncertain, it can safely be assumed that the surest and safest way to advocate for pub nights' continuance is by acting like responsible adults — by proving, as Wong and Alwani said in an e-mail to attendees, "that we are indeed capable of having a good time while not creating the circumstances that gave the administration the excuses to treat us like kids."
