Author: Ryan Strong & Ben DeLuca
Following a disastrous Splatter dance that resulted in eight hospitalizations and negative media attention for the college, Asst. Dean of Students for Student Life Tamara Rice said she considered canceling the Halloween concert featuring A-Trak. But the party will go on, though it has now been limited to Occidental students only.
“I contemplated canceling the (Halloween) concert, because in some respects I feel like the students don’t deserve it. I mean, I was so upset Saturday . . . I was thinking to myself that they don’t deserve to have a concert,” Rice said. “I shouldn’t have to send an email before every major event to remind students to be responsible. This should just be common courtesy. Programming Board works hard to put on successful events because they’ve been charged to use Student Activity Fees to put on large scale events, and it’s almost like this is the thanks they get.”
Tamara Rice also noted that the potential effect this incident has on the college is significant.
“Trustees have been calling the offices and foundations . . . We’re trying to do JSC renovations, and Rose Hills Foundation could be saying, ‘Wait a minute, we’re going to give you money for this renovation but what kind of students do you guys have here?’ This is far reaching. We’ve got Homecoming coming up this weekend, and parents and alumni and everyone’s seen [this story], and that’s what’s hard, we’re now into damage control,” Rice said.
Though the Halloween party will go on, the administration is actively working to address the issues encountered during splatter so they never recur. The administration has already setup a task force composed of Rice, members of the programming board, ResEd leadership, RAs and Asst. Director of Student Life Devon MacIver to work on the problem. Rice also warned that repercussions for splatter would be forthcoming.
“We are contemplating whether to hold Winter Formal or Sex on the Beach. It is a high likelihood that Splatter will not happen next year. Because it’s important that a message is sent that this is not acceptable behavior.”
Eight people were transported by ambulance to four different local hospitals due to excessive alcohol consumption, according to Rice and Campus Safety records. Seven of the people transported were underage students. The eighth was a prospective student being hosted by the men’s soccer team. Multiple fire engines, ambulances, battalion chiefs, EMS Supervisors and at least one ladder truck responded to the college’s calls, setting up a staging area in front of the dance to treat victims. By midnight, Campus Safety estimated 800 students were at the dance. Just after one a.m.the dance was shut down.
“‘Splatter’ dance was shut down due to LAFD staging area adjacent to the dance and the numerous alcohol related medical emergencies being transported from the dance and other areas of campus,” Campus Safety records state. Campus Safety estimated that 75 percent of the dance’s attendees had consumed alcohol prior to entering the dance.
The news of the hospitalizations had made local television coverage by Sunday morning, with multiple media sources picking up the story as the day went on. One of the first media sources to report on the hospitalizations used the phrase “rave-style” to describe the party and the descriptor made its way into other publications. Administration officials say that the phrase does not accurately describe the party.
The Occidental Weekly will have an in-depth report on Splatter, with much more extensive reporting covering all angles of the issue, in our next print issue scheduled for publication on Nov. 2.
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