One of Fairfield University’s most beloved traditions, the Presidential Ball, better known by students as Pres Ball, is coming up once again. In the week leading up to the event, students scramble for tickets, and this year was no different.
Tickets for this year’s Pres Ball went on sale at noon on Monday, Sept. 16 for seniors and at noon on Tuesday, Sept., 17 for first-years, sophomores and juniors.
For seniors, there were immediate issues with purchasing tickets. Group chats buzzed with questions after alerts online showed that tickets were sold out only moments after the sale began. Some seniors made phone calls to reserve tickets, while others waited for the site to start working again.
Senior Bobby Schattle said that the “system said tickets were sold out right away and then didn’t show [that the] tickets [were] back on sale until ten minutes later. [It] was better in previous years.”
Emily Keane, ‘25, didn’t have any issues with the technology, but said, “I was on my way to class so [it wasn’t] convenient.”
The rest of the student body seemed to have a hit-or-miss experience on Tuesday. Some students took to Fizz, an anonymous social media platform used by some university students, with one person posting, “When the site crashed four times but I still got that pres ball ticket.” This received 330 upvotes from other users.
Other anonymous posters took to Fizz to share their difficulties obtaining tickets. One student wrote, “Does anyone know what to do if it says not eligible when you click on student tickets for pres ball?”
Another student complained that ticket sales weren’t split up, writing, “Pres Ball tickets need to be sold the same way they do class registration. Because why are freshmen buying at the same time as juniors?”
Sophomore Daniella Norena-Mesa faced technical difficulties and much like the Fizz post that complained about the site crashing, she said, “It did not go well for me. It kept asking to do the ‘Are you a robot’ test. It wasn’t working, and I think there was a system error. I did end up getting tickets, but that was hours later.” In the meantime, Norena-Mesa worried that tickets would be completely sold out the next time she tried to purchase them. All of her friends had managed to get tickets, and she was looking forward to going with them.
Sophomore Jane Coppola had a smoother experience purchasing tickets compared to last year. “This might have to do with the fact that last year I bought my ticket in Jogues, while this year I bought it in Canisius.” Still, Coppola explained she still experienced issues, “When I was checking out and hit the button to place my order, finalizing my ticket purchase, the website crashed and displayed an error message that read: ‘This request cannot be processed.’” Luckily, it seemed to be a false error code, as Coppola received a confirmation email moments later.
Instead of using the website like most seemed to, Kallie Oullette, ‘26 used the Super Stag App. “I thought getting tickets was easy this year… [I] had no problems with the system,” she said.
Another sophomore, McKaylan Connolly, had an easier time getting tickets than she did her first year, though it still wasn’t perfect. “This year the page was a little slow to load, but overall it was much easier and quicker to purchase the ticket.”
Connolly also spoke about the timing of the sale, saying, “I feel like the timing of Pres Ball tickets going on sale was inconvenient for people who had classes at that time. Once tickets were on sale, everyone was pulling out their credit cards and trying to get the page to load. It was disruptive, and I felt bad for our professor who was in the middle of a lecture.”
Sophomore Sam Giuricich got lucky with Pres Ball tickets this year. Though she had a lab at the time, she got out of class early and managed to avoid technical problems. “Once [my computer] loaded, it was smooth, but it was stressful because my friends were telling me they got tickets.”
Junior Marina Chiaro, however, didn’t even realize anything had gone wrong for others with purchasing tickets. “It was quick, and I got them in two minutes,” Chiaro said.
For anyone still wanting to get a ticket, as of Friday, Sept. 20, FUSA reports a limited number still available—even though students feel pressured to get tickets the second they go on sale, there are plenty to go around.
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