(The Beacon)
By Hillary White, Guest Commentary -- The Beacon
As April approaches, the signs of spring are here. The rain gave up a little bit, and now it's back in full force. Weekend on the Bluff is here, and with it a million tours and prospective students every day. And last, but certainly not least, ASUP's budgeting season has arrived.
The Finance Committee announced its Budget Proposal on Monday night, and with it there were a few surprises. Among them is CPB's request for Homecoming – specifically not requesting funds for a Homecoming Dance.
After Dance of the Decades this year, CPB had several long talks with Public Safety, Residence Life, ASUP and Student Activities. We also distributed a survey to students to gather their thoughts and opinions about Dance of the Decades. With the alcohol issues at the dance, we couldn't just sit by and let another dance happen without addressing the dangerous behavior we encountered. At the end of those meetings, we reached a decision that meets our number one priority of keeping students safe without ruining CPB's function completely by taking dances away forever.
Dances at UP are going to have a different look from now on. First, all students will have to take a Breathalyzer. This meansany student over the age of 21 must read under the legal limit (.08), and any student under the age of 21 will have to register zero. This is not going into effect as an effort to control your lives, and it's not because CPB wants to take a power trip. We are concerned about student safety, and it should be important to the student body. We wanted to come up with a solution that students could get behind and when 20 percent of students in our survey directly mentioned Breathalyzers were the way to go, we listened.
Also, students are going to be required to take the buses provided by CPB. Since students will be required to take a breathalyzer test, those will only be provided on campus. Additionally, we suspect way too many students were driving under the influence this year, and simply providing buses isn't enough prevention anymore. In an effort to keep students safe (from both drinking and driving, and over-drinking), from now on all dance-goers will have to hop the big yellow bus to get to the dance.
So, in order to properly implement these new changes, CPB has decided to forgo a homecoming dance next fall. This will provide extra time before Dance of the Decades to make sure the process can run as smoothly as possible. We want to make sure CPB does all it can to make the new check-in system as quick for students as it can be, and the extra months of planning will really help.
But have no fear; CPB isn't taking away the fun! Instead of a homecoming dance, we've come up with a new event that we think students will like even more. Since traditionally the homecoming dance only held 1,100 people, CPB is bringing an event to campus that everyone can enjoy. An inclusive event that truly embodies the spirit of homecoming by allowing all students to come together to celebrate the school we love. A concert.
CPB has requested funds for a major concert, complete with student and local bands opening. We want the entire student body to be able to come together in an event we think everyone can enjoy. But we need your suggestions.
What music do you want to hear live at UP?
Hillary White is the CPB Director. She can be contacted at whiteh12@up.edu.
(Samantha Heathcote -- The Beacon)
