In two weeks, instead of partying hard, thousands of students who enjoy the feel of bubble tape against their skin and “For God, For Country and For Yale” banner bikinis will have to look elsewhere to indulge their fetishes.
Exotic Erotic, the dance Timothy Dwight College hosts annually in September, famous around campus for its scantily clad partygoers and large crowds, will not occur this year. Exotic Erotic student organizer Patricia Stringel ’03 and TD Master Robert Thompson confirmed Thursday that the party that drew over 4,000 undergraduates last year will not happen while TD undergoes renovation.
Overcrowding at Exotic Erotic last year is the main reason Thompson decided against hosting the dance in Swing Space, where TD students are residing this year until the University finishes renovating their college. Since Swing Space has only one exit in its courtyard, crowd control would be extraordinarily difficult, Thompson said.
“No one wants a party more than I do,” Thompson said. “But last year, even with two open courtyards, we were barely able to accommodate the crush.”
Thompson said Exotic Erotic will return next year when the renovations on TD are complete.
Last year, on the night of Exotic Erotic, paramedics took 10 students from the dance to local hospitals for treatment for excessive alcohol consumption that occurred before the dance. Since the consumption occurred prior to the dance, the students’ alcohol abuse was not directly related to Exotic Erotic and was not a major consideration in Thompson’s decision to cancel the dance this year, Stringel said.
“[The decision to cancel Exotic Erotic] was based primarily on space issues in Swing Space,” Stringel said.
Thompson decided last spring to cancel the dance. Stringel then attempted to meet with other Student Advisory Committee groups from different colleges, but the meetings did not produce a viable solution.
“Ultimately, Exotic Erotic is TD’s party,” Stringel said. “It’s not an easy party to have. It usually kills the grass and damages the courtyard. Some SAC chairs suggested other college courtyards, but we were not going to be able to do [Exotic Erotic] in a way that would do it justice.”
Instead of Exotic Erotic, TD students will have more residential college-sponsored social activities.
“We want to make it up to TDers,” Stringel said.
Although social activities within TD will help compensate for the temporary loss of Exotic Erotic, neither Stringel nor Robertson plans to develop an event that will directly replace the dance.
“It’s a shame we have to miss out on one of the biggest parties of the year because we’re in Swing Space,” said Robert Rhee ’04, who is in TD and attended Exotic Erotic last year dressed only in a cardboard box. “We suffer enough out here.”
Without Exotic Erotic, students said they will have to find another way to express their wild side.
“I’m really sad Exotic Erotic isn’t happening,” said Rachel Alpert ’03, who attended the dance in her freshman and sophomore years. “I was really looking forward to getting all hooched up and wearing as little as possible.”
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