Past misbehavior threatens Senior Ball

By Tom Sullivan

Due to complaints about student behavior in past years, the format for Senior Ball will be changed this year.

This annual event, which includes a dinner and dance in Monterey, has been used to help bring together outgoing seniors in an effort to strengthen bonds that will extend well beyond the confines of Santa Clara.

Mandi Collins, senior class chair, e-mailed members of the senior class and requested ideas for a new format for the event.

"As an institution, we have gotten considerably more feedback, complaints, about the event," said Jeanne Rosenberger, vice provost for student life.

She said the student leaders worked hard last year to try to prevent some of these problems.

"The result was still problematic, as measured by the costs we incurred through damages, the complaints received, the number of people who left the hotel because of behavior of the guests," Rosenberger said.

The school was forced to cover the costs of the damages incurred to the hotel, as well as pay for the hotel rooms for guests that were forced to leave because of the students' behavior.

The leading cause of the misbehavior was most likely due to excessive consumption of alcohol, Rosenberger said.

"Over the past few years we have seen a growing level of poor decisions and disrespect," Collins wrote in the e-mail.

Associated Students has been asked to put forth a proposal to the university for a new format of the event. The solution might be to take better measures in order to cut down on reckless behavior, or to change the format of the event entirely.

When asked about the possibility of a senior year without a culminating event, Steven Barbieri voiced his disapproval.

"To be honest, I think you hear so much going through Santa Clara about Senior Ball, how much fun it is, I think if they changed it that would kind of upset me as an alumnus," he said.

"You get to hang out with all your friends, people that you've known for four years, in Monterey outside of the university context," he added.

Other alumni expressed disappointment in the ball itself, although they enjoyed the rest of the weekend festivities, such as going to the aquarium and hanging out at the beach.

Recent graduate Carmella Basile said she wishes her class had the option to choose how Senior Ball was structured.

"We didn't really have a choice," she said. "We had to be in this hotel. We had to stay in the hotel room. I wish we had more options."

She said the number of underclassmen that attended Senior Ball probably contributed to the problems that occurred.

Senior Justin Perna said he hopes the event will happen this year.

"I'll definitely be disappointed if Senior Ball gets cancelled because of events that happened last year," he said.

Rosenberger said she believes this is a very important event for seniors, and to Santa Clara.

"The goal is always the same: To have an event or series of events at the end of the academic year to bring the senior class together, to celebrate the accomplishments of students after four years, to come together before their formal graduation, to create class unity just before they become our newest alumni," she said.

All of this doesn't mean that there won't be a Senior Ball at the end of the year.

However, the university needs to be reassured that behavioral issues won't occur, so the event will be different.

Contact Tom Sullivan at tsullivan@scu.edu.