College expected to reshape Ivies weekend
March 4, 2022
Bowdoin’s annual Ivies party—a tradition spanning nearly 150 years—is anticipated to look dramatically different form this year according to multiple sources present at a planning meeting that took place Thursday with members of Bowdoin Student Government (BSG), The Entertainment Board, Senior Vice President and Dean for Student Affairs Janet Lohmann and Director of Student Activities Nate Hintze.
While Lohmann stressed in an email Friday morning that plans were not yet finalized and would not comment on any details of the College’s plans, several attendees of Thursday’s meeting confirmed that several of the weekend’s signature events would not take place, including the annual “Quad Day” barbeque on the Brunswick Apartments quad and the Ivies concert. Instead, a spring concert will take place on April 8, although the Entertainment Board has yet to confirm the performing artist. Student bands will be recruited to perform during the Ivies weekend, which will occur the final weekend of April.
Lohmann reportedly highlighted the increased number of bias incidents and Title IX cases that had occurred during the last several Ivies weekends (Ivies last took place under “normal” conditions in April 2019), noise disturbances to students and community members living in the vicinity, and high cleanup costs as part of the motivation behind the changes.
The decision to hold a spring concert on a separate weekend stemmed from the fact that the Ivies concert has garnered a small audience in recent years, despite eating up a majority of the six-figure budget allocated to the event in the past.
Although students have not been allowed to hold registered events over the Ivies weekend in recent years, they will likely be allowed to do so this year in a light of the changes. The College is also expected to hold events similar to those that occurred during this year’s Fall Festival, although the details remain unknown.
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This is so incredibly sad and pathetic that this is what the college has come to. One of the best days of the year if not the best is now cancelled because of these horrible decisions. Is J-Lo doing this? What could you possibly believe is worthy of cancelling this event? Please leave and go work for a prison.
I would welcome a conversation about your concerns. You know how to reach me. I hope to hear from you.
J-lo, sweetie, these issues are inherent to the college environment you’ve created. Getting rid of ivies will only drive it underground and make it less safe for everyone. Instead of effectively cancelling ivies maybe work to my the college safer and more comfortable for everyone. Plus we’re still in a pandemic so let us have our fun!
I would welcome a conversation about the comments you raise. You know how to reach me. I hope to hear from you.
Janet, your template replies to comments are super condescending. Why not show that you’re listening to students and alumni? Think of yourself as a mini-CEO of a company. Your job is to keep your employees (students) happy or else they will leave.
You did something unpopular. I’m not going to tell you how to do your job, but generally speaking, you want involve those who will be effected by your actions. You want to communicate clearly your decisions. You want to have a plan ready that demonstrates that you understand the students. This isn’t how a dean of student affairs should conduct themselves.
Each night Bowdoin administrators lay awake, their thoughts preoccupied with the horrible thought that somewhere, someone might be having a good time.
The level of entitlement in the comments so far is breathtaking bur far from surprising. One of “the best days of the year,” is little more than an excuse to enjoy excessive drinking and drugging, self-absorbed partying, trashing the campus, often abusing fellow Bowdoin students or alumni, creating additional and often unpaid or underpaid work for college staff and local law enforcement, and causing yet more heartache (sometimes worse) for those who live and work and raise their families the this community, If you want a clear eyed and honest sense of why so many who live in Brunswick and/or work at the college (faculty as well as staff) sometimes think so poorly of the place, consider how these comments might sound to them. Then ask when you might realize that attending an elite school such as Bowdoin is more than an excuse to shirk responsibility and act immaturely all so you can have a sticker on your car and reflect fondly on the so-called “best four years of your life.” If this is what college is about, then you need to think again about why you came to Bowdoin in the first place.
It feels like you’ve missed the point of the previous comments. I can’t think of a single student that would say Ivies is without its problems or that the concerns you’ve listen shouldn’t be addressed; however, these issues already exist in our community and Bowdoin has done precious little to rectify them before now. Why, then, are they trying to overhaul one of the few weekends that people genuinely look forward to and bond during? The changes aren’t to address sexual assault or binge drinking or even staff exploitation. They’re a show to make admin look nice – nothing more and nothing less. If they really want to address these problems in a more focused way, they should work on changing the normal weekend party culture – which would translate to a safer, more enjoyable Ivies for everyone – rather than just ripping this away from students and offering this half-baked replacement that will effectively change nothing in return. Overall, your concerns are valid and there is privilege in these comments (including my own), but this won’t be an effective solution.