The Daily Campus

Issue date: 10/14/08 Section: Commentary

Given the dicey physical and legal entanglements inherent in the sort of entertainment many UConn students seek on an average Friday and Saturday nights in Storrs, it makes perfect sense that the university would seek to offer a safer, a sober and, most importantly, legal recreation alternative.

What doesn't make perfect sense is the type of activities SUBOG offers as their "free, fun, exciting quality entertainment that appeals to a diverse population during peak social times," as the Late Night Web site says. SUBOG's main "entertainment" seems to consist of setting up stands that accrue long-lines of students waiting for handouts.

A fundamental mismatch is what is being traded: Late Night for a wild night. SUBOG is attempting to trade students free baubles they don't want for something students are willing to pay for, walk for and risk legal trouble for - the opportunity to socialize.

Parties are not simply substance abuse centers where students wait in grim lines for their eventual reward at the punch bowl; the implicit trade of alcohol for goodies inherent in the Late Night is a losing proposition. Students head to parties primarily to seek out each other; trite as it sounds, this social demand cannot be sated with material goods, even if those goods are of a far higher-caliber than the airbrush, mesh trucker hats and sports photo frames offered at a typical Late Night.

In fact, many of the knick-knacks on offer at the Late Nights are quite expensive; those Build-a-Bears can run upwards of $20 each. It is difficult to imagine the university wanting or able to spend much more than that, all of which is irrelevant, because students clearly would prefer to spend $20 in an hour to have a wild time than wait in a line for an hour to get a $20 bear.

The UConn Late Night also advertises itself as "a unique opportunity for socializing, organizational development, friendship and student involvement," which they aren't. "A unique opportunity for socializing" is what the events should be; however, Late Nights will only begin to draw students away from partying in sizable numbers when they become known as a legitimate sober socialization alternative on Fridays and Saturdays. The first step SUBOG should take is the planning of events that encourage fraternization rather than queuing-up, which could definitely save on plaything-procurement costs. Events like karaoke are a start, but much, much more could and should be done. In a town like Storrs, if the university doesn't provide sober entertainment, nobody else will.

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