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March 23, 2007 > Opinion > Formal requests

Formal requests

By The Rice Thresher Editorial Staff | Thresher Editorial Staff

For the first time since 1947, there will be no Rondelet this year. (See story, Page 1.) While we are glad Rice Program Council has finally realized it was throwing away its money on the dance that refused to die, we do not want the decision to begin the end of formal dances at Rice.

We want RPC to improve, for the organization’s sake and students’ benefit. We think it can, with a little creativity and a little more manpower. Here are our ideas for getting more out of the Formals budget and campus resources:

Stop feeding us: There are already enough free meals on campus, and we are already paying for formals tickets. We do not want to pay $5 more to have access to a vegetable tray, and cutting the food budget would both let us go out to a nice dinner beforehand and let RPC spend our blanket tax money elsewhere.

Start serving us drinks: We want an open bar for students 21 and older, and we would be willing to pay a ticket surcharge for booze passes. That way, those of us who only want to dance do not waste our money paying for our friends to get intoxicated.

Keep it classy: We want our formals to be formal — no jeans — and we want to dance to music that reflects that mood. It would be cool to get a chamber group from the Shepherd School to play a set or two, and KTRU DJs have enough taste that we could rely on them not to fill the room with undanceable or just plain bad tunes. Additionally, we know how important a venue is to the quality of a dance, and we encourage RPC to use the Gala test: If a bunch of lawyers would host a charity event or wedding there, it passes.

Keep it cheap: While we realize this is not exactly cheap date night at the Angelika, paying more than $20 per ticket is ridiculous. We do not mind if parties are sponsored by the bar providing the alcohol or the company providing the tunes if it allows us to dance on a dime.

Keep it Rice: Archi-Arts proves every year that students can get things done cheaply, quickly and well — this year, about $3700 got about 500 students grooving at the Meridian for $10 a pop. And they turned a profit to boot. Imagine what $12,000 could do.

We encourage next year’s RPC Formals Committee to keep these suggestions in mind.

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