A social experiment organized by Princeton’s administration and the USG, which was held Saturday evening in the Chancellor Green library, was a smashing success, students and administrators report.
The “arts and crafts”-themed event, designed as part of the administration’s Alcohol Initiative, drew as many as 23 attendees, according to Deputy Sub-Councilor for Student Life Harold Dansby, who served as one of seven chaperones.
Participants in the event enjoyed a range of exciting activities centered around the event’s theme. Some students, like Clara Horvath ’11, made sculptures out of brightly colored pipe cleaners provided by the USG. “With super fun activities like this, who needs alcohol?” Horvath said. “I made a pterodactyl, see? Neato!”
Other students made illustrations from construction paper and elbow macaroni. “I’m really having a great time,” commented Gerald Harper ’10, a molecular biology concentrator, as he traced an outline of his left hand on a piece of construction paper with an orange crayon.
Refreshments, which were provided by the USG, included granola bars and cinnamon graham crackers. In place of alcohol, chocolate milk was served, for which a chaperone monitoring the snack table handed out curly straws. No refreshments were served after 9 p.m., however, to give participants time to calm down before bedtime.
Administrators made sure that the event was run smoothly. Chaperones posted at the door collected permission slips from students as they trickled in. Supervisors were stationed at each activity table to make sure crayons, pipe cleaners and glue sticks were distributed equally and fairly.
The evening was not without incident, however. Harper received a paper cut while working with a piece of sky blue construction paper. Luckily, Special Assistant to the Vice Chancellor of Student Wellbeing Cynthia Meehan, serving as chaperone and supervisor of the elbow macaroni art table, was on hand to administer first aid. Meehan noted that only paper with rounded corners will be available at further events.
As students politely interacted, administrators observed and took notes from the gallery above. The observers recorded all incidents of laughter and any other signs of jollification. The official findings on the general level of merriment at the event are expected to be released in a comprehensive report next week, administrators indicated.
Plans are already in the making for the next alcohol-free event. Though the theme of the event has not yet been decided, administrators seemed amenable to one attendee’s proposal of a “Rock, Paper, Safety Scissors” tournament. Upon hearing the suggestion, the chaperones present nodded their heads in an apparent gesture of approval. Details of the next event will be hammered out in the coming weeks by a joint USG-administration committee.
At 10 p.m., students left the event in an orderly single-file line led by Aaron Anderson ’12.
-N.E. ’11
