By Allison Rodgers
Staff Writer
This year, Bryn Mawr will not be hosting its traditional, open, wet Halloween party. Radnor will host a level two party, and there will be an open dry party in the campus center.
After it was announced at the September 11th SGA meeting that Radnor would not host the wet, level three, open Halloween party, there were efforts to revive the event at a different on-campus venue.
The Rockefeller dorm held a vote to see if the residents were interested in hosting the party, but it was defeated. This was due to a myriad of concerns, largely over mess, expense and the fact that Rock already hosts the traditional St. Patrick’s Day party.
Students say that the Halloween party had been declining in attendance over the past few years. Many believe this is due to the simultaneous increase of party rules, starting with the 2009 party, which required the Halloween party hosts to hire professional bouncers, hand out wrist bands and limit guests from outside the Tri-Co.
Senior Sarah Shaw remembers the Halloween party of her freshman year, at a time when many of these restrictions had yet to be implemented.
“I had a lot of fun but it was crazy. . . people came from all over,” Shaw said.
She noted that the party was a way for students to put fun before work and also a “night when Bryn Mawr became a “normal college” or had a “normal college experience.”
At the same time, she understands the reasons for the new party rules. “It would have helped a lot if we had professional bouncers my freshman year . . . the party hosts looked stressed out [and] there were a large number of terribly intoxicated people,” she said.
Shaw said she would most likely be spending Halloween in Philadelphia for the first time.
While the future of the Halloween party remains uncertain, there are still plenty of things to do next weekend. Adelyn Kishbaugh ’12, the newly elected Social committee head has “taken over major planning for Halloween” according to Res-Co council heads Lee McClenon and Blair Smith.
There will be a dry party in the Campus Center from 10-2 with a DJ, dancing and decorations. Kishbaugh said she’s been taking suggestions for food, noting that there would almost certainly be candy corn. Kishbaugh acknowledged that “people are concerned” about a Bryn Mawr Halloween without the wet party but said that she believed “it will still be fun” and that there were many things to do.
In addition to the Campus Center party, there will be movies playing in room 110 in Thomas Great Hall, including Shaun of the Dead, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, and The Sixth Sense. The Brecon dorm is also hosting a haunted house from 8-10 on Saturday.