Can the administration possibly throw any more surprises our way?

The Farewell Dance at the end of the year has always been a way for students to release stress and blow off some steam before cramming for finals and their ast projects. But this year, the Farewell Dance has been cancelled, a decision that was originally only a brief discussion between administration and 2011 ASB Leadership.

They claim that their justification was that there are many events that usually happen at the end of the school year, such as graduation, Baccalaureate and Senior All-Night Party, activities which are generally meant for seniors, leaving the rest of the student population without activities during the last few months of school. But all of these events require supervision by staff members, so it seems as though the reason for the cancellation might not have had anything to do with the best interests of the students.

This situation is different from the cancellation of Winter Ball.  It is very understandable that administration would remove a dance that ended up losing so much money, simply out of the benefit of the school’s budget. The Farewell Dance, on the other hand, does not require the reservation of another location, provisions of food and drinks, professional photographers—not to mention the effort of advertising and convincing students to purchase a $80 to $90 dollar bid. Blue Pearl was previously a themed event, set up to raise money for one charity or another.  However, it is now being considered as an actual dance that will replace the Farewell Dance.  Although this event is great because it often attracts students who are not comfortable with the atmosphere of other dances, it shouldn’t take the place of both Winter Ball and the Farewell Dance.

A majority of students that are being directly affected by this decision were not consulted before the cancellation was made, or even notified after. Many of the seniors were not aware that the Welcome Back Dance on Aug. 29 was going to be their last casual dance of high school. This goes to show that administration did not do their job to inform students about the change.  The compensation of shaving $10 off the purchase of an ASB card is a rather weak replacement for taking away something that so many students look forward to, without giving them the courtesy of asking their opinions.

Here at school, we students tend to complain amongst ourselves about issues we think are unjust and actions that don’t reflect a concern for our best interests. We don’t generally speak up and initiate real discussions with the administration when we’re upset with something, even if we have perfectly reasonable arguments. This lack of action can lead the administration to believe that we aren’t concerned about the decisions that affect us but in which we don’t have a say.  In other words, we’re letting administration step all over us.

Whether it’s just speaking out against the indefinite cancellation of Farewell, or the seemingly endless changes to every event on campus that the administration suddenly implements, we’re the ones being the most affected and it’s ultimately our job to fight for what we want.