Author: Sarah Corsa
The second annual GLOW dance flashed and pulsed beneath black lights on the Johnson Student Center Quad on Saturday night. Students wore glow sticks and waved L.E.D thunder sticks that were provided by Programming Board. Students in white and neon attire danced to music courtesy of DJ Kirk Follette (senior), Occidental student and sociology major.
The number of participants grew to 970 this year, an increase from 620 last year, according to Director of Student Life Tamara Rice. A few instances of extensive alcohol consumption accompanied the first school-wide dance of the year. According to the Campus Safety reports from the weekend, there were seven alcohol incidents and four students taken to the hospital due to alcohol poisoning.
“There were a few firetrucks that drove up on the Quad, like right to the dance,” biology major Marin Weiskopf (first-year) said.
The number of hospitalizations increased from zero at last year’s GLOW dance but remained lower than the Splatter dance in 2011. Eight students were hospitalized at Splatter, attracting local news attention and leading Rice to cancel the dance in subsequent years and replace it with GLOW. Rice expressed satisfaction with the way GLOW has gone the past two years, even with the hospitalizations at this year’s event.
“I know it’s a Splatter ‘replacement,’ but I think it’s a good one, and Programming Board has done a nice job of making it fun and exciting,” Rice said in an email. “Despite the transports, which I never like, I think the students behaved fairly well and were a good audience for the DJ.”
Programming Board took preventative measures to keep students safe. The Friday before the dance, Programming Board encouraged students to sign a pledge to drink responsibly while handing out glow sticks at a table in the Quad. Although Programming Board collects signatures before every dance, this year it added a provision asking students to do what they could to prevent sexual assault as well.
At the event, an EMT tent staffed by medical personnel helped assess students’ conditions and provide the necessary treatment, from supplying drinking water to transports. According to the Campus Safety reports, four students were taken to the tent for evaluation but were escorted back to their room by friends to rest.
“I think Oxy’s taking a positive step in just having the resources available to people in case they need it,” biochemistry major Lexie Filkens (sophomore) said.
Programming Board also served pizza at 1:30 a.m. to help keep students safe for the duration of the night. According to Programming Board event coordinator and economics major Piper Galt (senior), precautionary measures also included GLOW ending half an hour later than previous dances to discourage students from drinking more and going out to parties afterward.
“If we can have people stay at the dance and have fun there, they won’t feel the need to go and drink some more,” Galt said.
Galt believes the rest of the event was a success despite the hospitalizations.
“It seemed like, from an outside perspective, people were having a lot of fun,” Galt said. “There were some issues with noise and people wanted it to be louder, but it’s hard to find that balance because we want people to have fun, but we also want to respect our neighbors.”
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