As the campus recuperates from another Ivies, students and administrators alike are reflecting on the highs and lows of the weekend. From Thursday's Racer X concert to Pinestock on Saturday, many agree that this year's springtime celebration went off without a major hitch.
The weekend's events were a culmination of planning and coordination by the Entertainment Board (E-Board), Dining Service, Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) and the Office of Safety and Security.
BSG President John Connolly '11, who coordinated the snacks delivered to Friday's party at Harspwell Apartments and to Pine Street on Saturday night, said that there were no problems with food distribution.
"We worked with Dining to get the snacks on Friday night. We worked with ResLife, who paid for the pizza, and we paid for the hot dog vendor to come on Saturday, and those two things and the timing worked out great," said Connolly. "There was no pizza riot this year, which is always a good thing, and I haven't heard any complaints."
E-Board Co-President David Gruber '11 discussed Saturday's concert at Whittier Field.
"Everything went really smoothly," said Gruber. "Setup was long but successful, and it seems like all of the artists were impressed with how well prepared we were."
Although the concert went longer than expected, ultimately ending around 7:30 p.m. instead of the expected 7 p.m., Gruber was pleased that many students stayed until the end of the event.
"Dr. Dog went longer than expected so things got pushed back a bit," he said. "We were worried that people would start leaving after Mac Miller because of last year, but everyone stuck around," referring to the early departure of many students last year.
According to many students, the concerts were the best part of the weekend, along with the warm and sunny weather.
"The weather was really, really nice," said Peggy Zhao '13. "I quite enjoyed Dr. Dog's opening act. I thought they did a great job setting the mood for the day."
"I liked Racer X," said Isabel Low '13. "I thought it was cool that they invited Miscellania to sing with them. It made it different from other performances."
While the weekend was mostly devoid of incident, there was one major complaint among students and administrators: the large numbers of non-Bowdoin people present for the Saturday concert.
Dean of Student Affairs Tim Foster said that visiting students and friends of students caused some problems for those running the events.
"I was a little disappointed with the behavior of some of our visiting students," said Foster. "Some visiting students from other campuses did not represent their institutions well."
"As always, people are responsible for the behavior of our guests," he added. "We certainly set things up so that people who attended the concert needed to have a Bowdoin host."
Foster said that visitor behavior this year might raise questions about the current visitor policy as the administration looks toward the next Ivies.
"The big question about visitors is, are they conducting themselves in a manner that is consistent with what we expect of our own community?" said Foster. "Maybe we should have students pre-register their guests."
Despite these considerations, however, Foster was pleased with the weekend and praised campus groups.
"There were lots of folks working in front of and behind the scenes to make this a fun and enjoyable weekend," said Foster. "My impression was that people had a really good time and it was a lot of fun, and generally people did so in a safe and responsible manner."
Director of Safety and Security Randy Nichols discussed the coordination between the Brunswick Police Department and Bowdoin Security prior to and throughout the weekend.
"I think Ivies 2011 went quite well," said Nichols. "From our operational standpoint here, we did the best we could with the resources we had. We were able, with the help of the student body, to keep the campus safe over a high risk period of time."
Though Nichols classified the weekend as a "relative success," with only one transport of a Bowdoin student, there were a few more serious security incidents. A laptop was stolen from Harpswell Apartments and Nichols said that he is positive that the perpetrator was a visiting student.
"There were dozens of non-Bowdoin students at gatherings there this weekend," he said. "I definitely don't believe a Bowdoin student stole that laptop, but it's going to be difficult because there were so many people there."
One of the more serious incidents from the weekend involved a visiting University of New Hampshire student. The student was transported to Parkview after running into a fence head-first while severely intoxicated on Friday night, as he was being escorted back to his friend's residence from Harpswell Apartments. The student was later barred from campus.
In addition, security officers also had several run-ins with non-Bowdoin visitors at the concert on Saturday afternoon.
"There was one bias incident where a homophobic slur was yelled at a Bowdoin student and we located that visitor and barred him from campus," said Nichols. "We had several other college visitors removed from campus for disorderly behavior. Most of the guests were very well behaved, but there were several who did not play by the rules, so to speak."
In spite of a smattering of security incidents, administrators and students agree that Ivies Weekend was a generally safe and enjoyable one.
"Overall, I think mission accomplished," said Connolly.