Music thumped loudly throughout the campus as students lined up outside the Barone Campus Center entrance. Students awaited hearing DJ Priceless’s music while dancing under white screens displaying music videos.
But this was no ordinary social scene.
After being written up for having too many people in their townhouse, the residents of townhouse 131 were asked to host a party that was an educational project and a safe alternative to drinking, an idea presented by the Student Health Association Committee, according to townhouse 131 resident Evron Trim ’08.
“[Our parties] were a fire hazard because so many people would show up,” Trim said.
The event was “Club 42,” a party hosted by the Dean of Students office and townhouse 131 on the third floor of the Barone Campus Center last Friday night.
Approximately 400 students were present from Fairfield, Sacred Heart, Yale, and the University of Bridgeport.
Trim said the Dean of Students office agreed that Club 42 would be a safe option for students to party on the weekends, listen to music and dance without leaving campus and without crowding in the townhouses. Two public safety officers and one Fairfield police officer were present at the event.
“The idea expressed to me was to give students a central location to go to where they could get in and eat for free and essentially hang out well into the morning,” said Dean of Students Thomas Pellegrino. “The students argued persuasively that for many students, they just desire a place to go on the weekend night.”
The Dean of Students office provided the funding for music and food as well as a raffle for an Xbox 360 and a $300 gift certificate to Best Buy.
According to Pellegrino, Club 42 has the potential to become a recurring event.
“Assuming this is something that students like, I would encourage more thinking along these lines and it does not have to be elaborate or expensive to do,” said Pellegrino.
Out of the approximately 400 guests, one student was documented for a drinking violation, according to Matthew Majewski ’08, a resident of townhouse 131.
Majewski said he wants to change Fairfield nightlife and hopes to open the event to other schools such as Southern Connecticut State, UConn and Yale because it was “definitely a night everyone will be talking about ? something Fairfield has never seen before.”
Jeff Andrieux, who also lives in townhouse 131, agreed that the University needs better nightlife that does not revolve around drinking and overcrowded parties.
“We’re tired of [going to] the same lame school dances over the years. People usually leave early and look elsewhere to party. We want to keep a stronger sense of Fairfield community,” he said.
Joe Ginese, a graduate assistant in the student activities office, said he thought Club 42 was a successful event.
“I was just on call, but it’s good to see people use the Campus Center. [Club 42] went extremely smooth and was very well run. The whole environment was awesome,” he said.
Students said Club 42 was a blast.
“It was hot,” said China Perez-Brown ’10.
Sarah Karam ’10 said, “We should do it again.”
Leave a Reply