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The Rice Thresher
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by Jenny Rees For the Thresher Hanszen College students who object to the college's annual stripping contest, a highlight of the Hanszen Mardi Gras party for the past seven years, can now choose not to fund the event with college fees. After considering objections voiced last year by Hanszen students who found the stripping contest offensive, Hanszen's three socials have decided to allow students to choose whether or not their fees will support the event. The socials, who form a committee responsible for planning Hanszen's major parties, include sophomores Pam Kellet, Karen Finkelstein and Caroline Glendenning. This year's Mardi Gras party, to be held Oct. 19, will include a stripping contest unless an overwhelming majority of Hanszen students choose to withhold their fees from the party, a possibility the Hanszen socials don't consider likely. After last year's Mardi Gras party, some Hanszen students raised objections to the stripping contest. The contest lasts about an hour, features 10 to 15 student acts and awards a $100 prize to the winning act. Concerned that students were being forced to support an event some found offensive, Hanszen juniors Sarah Cloots and Uchenna Agbim wrote a letter to the editor in the Oct. 27, 2000 issue of the Thresher. "The fact that this event has reached pornographic levels leads us to argue that the party, at least in its current form, should be reevaluated," the letter stated. "It is unfair that the college funds of those who oppose the event are used to fund something that estranges many individuals." This year, after consulting with Hanszen president Erik Vanderlip, Hanszen's new socials proposed a system in which students can choose not to support the Mardi Gras party with their college dues. The Hanszen council approved this plan, and on Monday the socials distributed notices for Hanszen students to fill out anonymously if they do not wish to support the contest. Hanszen already allows students to decide whether their college fees will go toward the purchase of alcohol. Individuals who do not wish to finance the contest should return the forms by Sept. 20. Otherwise, the socials will assume they support the contest. "I just want to stress that it's voluntary, both participating and coming to it," Hanszen senior Angela Durbin, one of last year's socials, said. Money not allocated to the Mardi Gras party will be used for Hanszen's spring St. Patrick's Day party and for TGs. Most Hanszen students are not offended by the stripping contest and enjoy the tradition, Glendenning said. "We're just basically giving individual people the opportunity to decide where their funds are going," Kellet said. Hanszen senior Maggie Huerta said she thinks giving students a choice was a positive idea. "I think it's a positive thing that they're being sensitive to students who might not want to designate their funds toward an activity they disagree with," Huerta said.
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