Unlike last year, the buses to the 100 nights celebratory event did not get stuck under any bridges, even though the harsh weather conditions were an annoyance. Fairfield had its biggest snowfall of the year Saturday night, but students did not let the weather affect their 100 nights celebration.
“I thought it was an extremely fun event, and the band was awesome. Good booze and snacks, good music and good people. Overall I rate the night an A,” said Charlie Sferlazza ’06.
The 100 nights celebration was planned and arranged by Ashlee Fox ’06 and was hosted at The Loft in South Norwalk. Most students did not know the location of the event until Saturday night on the buses.
The location of the event was kept undisclosed according to Fox in the Feb. 2 edition of The Mirror to “make it a little more exciting and also eliminate drunk driving to the event.”
The bad weather put a stop to having a continuously running shuttle that was originally planned to run back and forth. However, changes were made, and arrival and departure times were set up by Fox.
Many seniors were upset about the lack of publicity about the event. The event was not sponsored or endorsed by Fairfield University in any way, which created a difficult environment on campus for Fox to publicize the event to seniors.
“I felt that it was not appropriate to advertise through school channels …[and] other publicity methods such as posters on campus and campus announcements were not options, which definitely created a disadvantage,” said Fox.
News of the event was mainly spread by word of mouth, primarily because of the lack of involvement from the school administration.
The administration did not want any part in 100 Nights this year because of their inability to exert control measures over event, according to Matt Dinnan, assistant director of Student Services and Activities in the Nov. 3 issue of The Mirror.
Despite the university’s lack of involvement, there were zero problems at The Loft, according to Fox.
“I, myself, felt that everyone acted very respectfully and can say that there was not one complaint,” she said.
“Two hundred fifty seniors attended an open bar for over three hours and, to my knowledge, there were no unfortunate mishaps. This goes to show that the class of 2006 is a responsible group of young adults, which this school’s administration chose to unjustly punish for a previous class’ bad behavior despite our obvious maturity,” said Anthony Genovese ’06.
Many students were upset at the small amount of tickets available for the event. Only 250 seniors out of approximately 722 were able to attend the event because of limitations beyond Fox’s control.
“I got put on a waiting list. I was pretty bummed that I could not go, but there was another sweet party at the beach celebrating 100 nights,” said Katelyn Billings ’06.
Fox was limited as to which venue was chosen to host the event because of having to put a very significant deposit down.
“Since the tickets sold out in only a few days, I felt that there wasn’t even enough time for word to possibly get around to everyone. I had not expected such a quick response, and. . . could not have planned for it. There was nothing I felt I could have done and feel badly that I upset so many people because of it,” Fox said.
Despite the fact that only 250 seniors that were able to attend the event, those who did attend had a great time.
“It was an amazing event. Everyone there had tons of fun and it really brought our class together which is something that we really haven’t had yet this year,” said Kristina Chomick ’06.
Some students were worried that the school administration would try to regulate the event. “The university states that what their students do off-campus could have consequences with the school. They regulate students living at the beach and I think they would have done as much in their power to regulate or possibly stop this event,” Genovese said.
“This was not a university function, so it was not my place to regulate it,” said Dean of Students Thomas Pellegrino. “Students are aware, however, that any conduct, whether on or off campus, must be consistent with the student code of conduct.”
As for senior classes in previous years, this one handled itself just fine. “Our night was special and many people have some great memories to take with them that they might not have had otherwise. In my view, that makes 100 Nights a huge success,” Fox said. “Seeing everyone so happy and enjoying themselves made it all worth it for me. “I can admit, I even had a laugh or two running in heels and in the snow chasing down the buses.”
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