Bottom of the Formal Planning Barrel

Last night, Leverett HoCo announced that the Spring Formal will be held in Leverett. Big woop. Formal veterans have perfected dancing under big white tents and turned open bars in courtyards into an art form.

But the controversy, the drama, the intrigue around Lev’s formal goes far deeper than that. Love, democracy, betrayal, financial woes, and the uber-fancy Top of the Hub all played into this story. Find out more about this soap opera after the jump.

As eager rabbits started contemplating ideas for Spring Formal, the idea of holding it at Top of the Hub, at the zenith of the Prudential Tower--“the premiere location in Boston" according to one Leverett resident--quickly gained attention and popularity.

The Top of the Hub formal plan included shuttles between Lev and the Hub, an ultra-elegant food spread, and, of course, a jaw-dropping view of the Boston skyline. The catch? The Hub formal ticket price was set to cost $30, twice as much as an in-house formal. Not to mention, there would be no open bar…yikes.

HoCo sent out TWO formal questionnaires (the first was deemed “inconclusive” by resident polling experts.) On the second pass, Top of the Hub won by a hair's breadth, with 52 percent of the vote (150 people). In-house had 48 percent of the vote (136 people). But HoCo opted to ignore the majority ruling, deciding to conduct an in-house formal anyway, because it was more “economically feasible." Ahh, how the noble instrument of democracy is scorned!

Distressed rabbits complained of HoCo’s disorganization and tyrannical-like disregard for majority vote. One resident griped, “I just don’t get what the point of a vote was if we were not going to make a decision based on the results of that vote.” Another called the survey “deceptive and disappointing,” and accused HoCo of “holding a sham survey to try and get a mandate for a predecided course of action (holding the formal in Lev) and reneging when the results didn’t go as planned.” In response, HoCo issued an apology for the confusion of having two surveys and dispelled the notions of HoCo dictatorship, claiming to have Lev unity in mind and citing financial obstacles and low survey participation rate (286 out of about 650 Leverites) as problems.

One wise rabbit had a reminder both for in-house formal defenders and those ready to give HoCo a good pre-formal flogging: “Guys, it is just a dance.” Sure. You can say that again. A dance that’ll take place in a musky library instead of 52 stories above the city.

(Photo from Draigonkoon via Wikimedia Commons)