To the members of the Class of 2004:

I am writing today on behalf of the entire Senior Class Council about last Thursday's Senior Pub Night. It was held on Thursday, Nov. 13 at Hong Kong in Harvard Square, as many of you know. Senior Pub Nights are held to give the Senior Class the opportunity to celebrate four great years on the Hill together and reduce the cost of Senior Week event tickets. Senior Week is a week of events held in May dedicated to the Senior Class. Tickets to each event, which are limited, can be steep. The revenue generated from Senior Pub night ticket sales is used to reduce the cost of Senior Week event tickets.

Several incidents occurred on Thursday night at Hong Kong that reflected poorly upon the Senior class and disheartened Tufts administration and the Senior Class Council. As a class council, we work diligently to ensure enjoyable events and memorable moments of Tufts for our class. Incredible amounts of energy go into the planning of each event. However, all energy is wasted when fake tickets are used for admittance, a fellow peer breaks a bus window, altercations arise when students are denied entrance to Hong Kong due to inappropriate IDs and tickets, and individuals who invested effort to ensure an enjoyable Senior Pub Night for their peers are personally insulted and physically hurt by the very people they work so hard to please.

On the route back from Hong Kong, one of our peers broke a window on a bus that was transporting Seniors. This student has cost all Seniors $500 to pay the bus company, Vocell, which Tufts has an established business relationship, for the damage. This $500 is coming out of our Senior Class Council Budget that funds Senior Week in May.

One Senior had the audacity to run up the back stairway of Hong Kong in order to get into the bar area. Obviously, he was found upstairs and kicked out. This later led him to a disrespectful dispute with a Tufts administrator.

Some students fraudulently produced tickets to gain entrance into Hong Kong. These students sold the fraudulent tickets to friends and unexpecting students who thought that the tickets were legitimate. Approximately 60 fraudulent tickets were used to get into the event. The maximum capacity for Hong Kong is 325 people. Seniors that bought legitimate tickets at the Information Booth were denied entrance because Seniors with fraudulent tickets took their place inside.

Individuals who produced the fraudulent tickets claim they made one or two tickets for their roommate who forgot to buy a ticket or for a friend who could only stay for thirty minutes and did not want to pay $10 to stay, but you all are at fault. Due to your disrespect and immaturity, all Seniors will be forced to pay more for Senior Week event tickets. These fraudulent tickets cost the rest of our class an additional $500. This is a lesson for all of us - only buy tickets from the Information Booth or other University sponsored sources.

Tufts hires Senior Week Coordinators in the fall after a rigorous application process. The Senior Week Coordinators start working in the fall in preparation for the intense week that they run for the Class of 2004. On Thursday night, these four coordinators were working the door collecting tickets, loading buses, and ensuring the event ran smoothly. Their authority was simply disregarded by students who pleaded to enter Hong Kong without the proper identifications (Tufts ID and another form of ID) and admission ticket. Do not beg them to let you in. They abide by strict regulations set forth by Tufts. It does not matter whether you are friends or acquaintances, or simply know of these coordinators collecting tickets.

To those of you who participated in such activities, you have disappointed the entire Senior Class, embarrassed Tufts University, and disrespected the administration, staff and council who work for you. It is a privilege, not a right to attend class events. We do this for the Class of 2004 and look forward to pleasant upcoming events without the immaturity that engulfed Senior Pub at Hong Kong.

We hope you take this into consideration.

This viewpoint was written by Courtney Benson on behalf of the Senior Class Council. The council also includes, James Christian-Blockwood, Andy Katzenberg, Tiffany Gee, Caroline Postel, Doris Lin, Eugenia Vandoros.