Women’s Groups Plan [BLANK] Party to Fill Gap in Social Scene

UPDATED: September 19, 2016, at 9:20 a.m.

With the goal of providing an evening free from the pressures of social labels, various women’s groups at the College are organizing the second [BLANK] party for undergraduates, aiming this year at a larger turnout and a later end time.

The idea for the first [BLANK] party came in the summer of 2015, from conversations among some undergraduate women about perceived shortcomings in campus nightlife.

Students dance at last year's [BLANK] Party, a collaborative effort by several women's groups on campus to create an inclusive social gathering. By Isabel G. Alexander

Some of those women felt that many parties divided the student body based on one’s group affiliation or class year and “a lot of the social power laid in the hands of fraternities, or male final clubs, or even some male student organizations,” said Avni Nahar ’17, a [BLANK] Party organizer and co-president of all-women’s organization the Seneca, a group without official recognition from the College.

Both Nahar, an inactive Crimson editor, and Amy L. Vest, the Office of Student Life’s director of student programming, declined to specify which women’s groups were organizing the event. The Seneca helped host last year’s [BLANK] Party, according to the group’s website.

The party, which will take place this Friday, is specifically timed during what Nahar characterized as a particularly divisive season within campus social life.

“Specifically during the fall semester on campus there are a lot of things happening simultaneously on the extracurricular front, like comps and punch that tend to divide people,” Nahar said, referring respectively to admissions processes for students groups and the recruitment process for final clubs. “It seemed like a really important time to offer a party that was a little different from the rest.”

Last year’s party, which drew more than 1,000, featured finger foods and a live band. The party last year was funded by money University President Drew G. Faust provided, and this year, according to College spokesperson Rachael Dane, Faust has allocated another sum of money to the College to help the OSL pay for the party.

“[The Office of Student Life], like many students, sees a great value in having opportunities to come together like this on a large scale,” Vest said. “Events like [BLANK] Party affirm the College’s commitment to facilitating opportunities for students to engage with their peers in an environment where all are welcome.”

Organizers this year are hoping to draw an even larger crowd than last year’s with enhanced lighting effects, a later end time of 1:30 a.m., and increased publicity efforts so more people are made aware of the event.

The party comes at a time when the College is clamping down on unrecognized single-gender social organizations with historic penalties and simultaneously increasing its focus on student life programming.

—Staff writer Graham W. Bishai can be reached at graham.bishai@thecrimson.com.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

CORRECTION: September 19, 2016

A previous version of this article incorrectly indicated that the Office of Student Life is the sole funder for the [BLANK] Party. In fact, the Office of the President is helping fund the event.