Senior Ball proposal wins approval

By Kurt Wagner

The tradition continues. At least for one more year.

Associated Student Government President Chris Mosier announced on Monday that the university administration has approved ASG's proposal for a Senior Ball this spring. The ball failed to take place last year for the first time in over 80 years.

Official contracts were signed Wednesday afternoon between Santa Clara and the Corinthian Event Center in San Jose to solidify the Ball's location.

"I think it's not only important for seniors to have fun at this event, but it's also a good introduction to your future responsibilities as alumni and leaving this school with a final good impression," said Mosier.

Senior Ball will take place on June 2, a Thursday night, as one of the agreement stipulations between ASG and the university was that the dance could not be on a weekend, said Mosier.

This year's agreement had a number of conditions set by administration in response to poor student behavior exhibited in previous years, most recently in 2008 when participants racked up $5,300 in damages and guest inconvenience charges at the Portola Plaza Hotel in Monterey, Calif. In 2007, students accumulated $6,429 in damages and guest inconvenience charges at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, also in Monterey.

"A lot of years in a row we got a lot of negative publicity because of the behavior of students not just at the Ball Proper, but at the hotel where it was and at the surrounding hotels," said Vice Provost for Student Life Jeanne Rosenberger last fall. "We had a couple of really bad years to the point that we were no longer welcome in the city of Monterey."

Some of the stipulations made by administration for this year included that the event could not be held at a hotel venue, participants must ride the bus to and from the venue, and those who appear overly intoxicated when arriving at the bus will be denied admittance, said Mosier.

In addition, tickets will not be distributed to attendees until they arrive on the bus to ensure that no one attempts to make it to the dance using alternate modes of transportation. The venue's location is less than four miles from Santa Clara's campus, an attempt at keeping transportation costs minimal, said Mosier.

The dance will have a cash-bar serving beer and wine, but no hard alcohol will be served.

Originally, ASG anticipated hosting the dance earlier than the June date that has been established. A proposal was first submitted in the first week of winter quarter but took a while to be reviewed and returned, said Mosier.

Timing hasn't been the only obstacle in preparing for Senior Ball.  

The process of reviving the dance after a year off was nothing short of a challenge for Mosier and Senior Class Chair Carolyn Jones. In addition to dealing with numerous administrative recommendations, ASG has been without a permanent faculty advisor for most of the year with Jon Gray, the director for the Center for Student Leadership, out on leave for most of the school year including the remainder of the spring.

Assistant Vice Provost for Student Life Matt Cameron has taken over as advisor for the remainder of the year.

"Just not having that resource at the beginning of the year to guide us, showing us questions that we were going to be asked, that was certainly a big barrier," said Mosier. "As well as how we literally started (planning) from scratch."

The Senior Ball proposal is built around an anticipated attendance of 250, although Mosier is hoping for more. Once final contracts are signed, ticket prices will be calculated based on overall dance expenses, but the initial prediction is tickets will fall between $30-50 per person.

The last time a Senior Ball occurred in 2009, high ticket prices were a major factor in students' inability to participate in the dance, a factor Mosier and Jones have taken into account this year. In 2009 tickets cost $125 per person not including drink purchases.

The dance will be subsidized on the front end by ASG with ticket sales expected to cover the majority of the costs once all the details are sorted out. The total dance cost is estimated between $12-15,000.

"Afterward, if not only seniors are happy with the event but if the school's happy with it and we have students asking us, ‘where's the next one going to be next year?' that would be success in my book," said Mosier.

Contact Kurt Wagner at jwagner@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4849.