A student-run Halloween event for seniors ran smoothly on Wednesday, with few instances of the excessively drunken behavior that marked the semester's inaugural Senior Pub Night.
Halloween Club Night, held at Ned Devine's Irish Pub in Quincy Market, boasted a larger venue, free gifts and more security personnel, all methods employed by its organizers to decrease the focus on alcohol consumption.
"The Class of 2010 has proved that we can have alcohol and have a good time," said senior Raoul Alwani, one of the event's coordinators. "It proves that you can have alcohol at events with many people together."
Alwani and fellow senior Kevin Wong created the group Senior Club Life and organized its first event after the Tufts administration threatened to put Senior Pub Nights on hold in response to rowdy, drunken behavior at the semester's first pub night in September. The university decided definitively not to host the initially scheduled Halloween pub night; Alwani and Wong went on with the planning of their event.
A combination of clear guidelines and stricter security led to the smooth operation of the event, according to Wong.
"We outlined firm policies so that people understood that there are rules, even if they are implicit to some degree," Wong said. "There cannot be an antagonistic relationship between the organizers and attendees."
To further prevent overly intoxicated behavior, Wednesday's Halloween Club Night had a security detail on the buses and at the club. Two trained security professionals accompanied each bus to and from Tufts, and Ned Devine's staff was careful when admitting students.
"We wanted to attack the problem from different points," Wong said.
Alwani and Wong organized the Halloween event independently of the Senior Class Council, the body that organizes Senior Pub Night. They sold 600 tickets online before the event, and Alwani estimated that the event nearly reached full capacity.
The difference in student behavior at Halloween Club Night may be attributed to the uncertain future of Senior Pub Night. The Senior Class Council and the Office of Student Affairs have yet to reach a decision about pub night, according to Wong and Alwani.
"The main difference was that a lot of seniors [taking part] in [Wednesday's event] knew how to behave," senior Jose Soto said. "I didn't see that many people drunk in the line outside or escorted out this time, as I did in [Senior Pub Night]."
Alwani and Wong offered a number of benefits to decrease the emphasis on alcohol, including a package of discounts for students to enjoy before Senior Club Night.
By showing their tickets, students could receive discounts on purchases from the Garment District and Boston Costume and on dinner from Dick's Last Resort in Quincy Market, as well as free appetizers from some of the smaller bars in the area.
"We wanted to make it a holistic event," Alwani said. "It shouldn't just be about transporting people to and from the event. This is to emphasize an evening of activity, as opposed to [an evening of] just drinking."
Complimentary water, candy and pizza were also available on the bus ride back to Tufts.
Wong agreed that they offered the additional benefits to provide seniors with not a replacement for but alternative to drinking during the night.
"We didn't want to eliminate any aspects," Wong said. "We could work with the event by including other things that deemphasize the negative aspects of alcohol rather than decreasing the fun."
Members of the senior class noted that the spacious venue was helpful in dealing with intoxicated behavior.
"I definitely had a lot more fun at [Wednesday's] club night because there was more space," senior Courtney Morrissey said. "I wasn't bumping against other students. The lack of space was a bigger deal than misbehavior at Senior Pub Night. I just thought the fact that we were able to spread out more was really helpful."
Senior John Meyers agreed, adding that the extra space changed the atmosphere of the event. "The venue was bigger and it had a different feel … It didn't seem as out of control," Meyers said.
Others commended Senior Club Life's ticketing procedure.
Senior Alexandra Leonard said she enjoyed both Senior Pub Night in September and Halloween Club Night but felt the ticketing process for the Senior Club Life event was easier to use.
"The different ticketing system for Wednesday was much more efficient because it was online and very professional," Leonard said. "[For] Senior Pub Night it was inconvenient to come to the campus center, and it was sort of a competition about who would get there first."
The staff and management at Ned Devine's were happy with students' overall behavior and filed no complaints, according to Wong.
--
This article was modified from its original print form on November 5, 2009 for the purpose of accuracy.
