No Cinderella, you shan't go to the Summer Ball

The Summer Ball, a chance for staff and students to celebrate the end of their exams (sorry Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Biology), the end of another academic year, and for some, the end of university life, has always been a highlight of the Imperial social calendar. However, when the details of the Ball were announced during the Easter holidays, the response was mixed and for some the radical changes to the format have changed their end-of-year ball into an end-of-year festival. In a comment echoed by many, one student wrote on Facebook: ‘It’s no longer a Ball’.

The changes to the Ball include moving it to earlier in the day (with the event starting at 1pm) the removal of the formal dinner as well as the formal dress code. The Ball is also no longer an Imperial-only event. It’s being held in conjunction with King’s College Union and Goldsmith’s Union, and will be open to all London university students. Officially, the Summer Ball will finish at midnight where an after party for 1000 people will be held in Metric for an extra £5.

In a sense, however, this year’s Summer Ball is the best in recent years. With an extremely strong lineup (in spite of a Chase and Status DJ set) and no increase in price from last year.

Still there has been a significant amount of controversy over the changes, with students discussing the changes extensively on Facebook and differing over the significance of the changes. Some want there to be a formal dress-code, but are looking forward to the festival format, while others have lamented the loss of the dinner but are looking forward to mingling with students from other universities. Indeed it seems that with the full lineup now released, headliner Laura Marling has softened opposition to the changes, with the same student who said it’s not a Ball anymore declaring that Laura Marling ‘pretty much makes up for everything’. However, a common complaint has been that students feel that they weren’t consulted about the changes.

Were students consulted?

Questions have been raised about the poor communication between the Union and the student body, with a lot of students feeling like they have been blind-sided with the changes. There was initially little effort to explain the changes. One of the first questions put to Felix by a Chemical Engineering student was: “why have they made such a dramatic change? Was anyone pushing for such a change? Did they consult with many students before pushing these plans through?” The Union have strenuously defended the process behind the changes, pointing out that the changes were discussed in the Union Council and that the Ents Committee, which has four student members, was involved.

However, the widespread surprise at the changes shows that there was little communication with the ‘outside world’, with no mention in the Union’s all-student email, or on the Union website or Facebook page. A short article was published in Felix towards the end of last term and publicized on the Felix Facebook page and Twitter account, but by this point the changes had been all but decided. Union President Alex Kendall admitted that “people are concerned” and that they “probably needed to do more to get the changes across to people before launching”.

Sharing with other universities

The response to sharing the Ball with other universities has been mixed. Opinion is split between those who feel that it is no longer a special event to celebrate the end of their year at Imperial and some cheeky chaps who are looking forward to girls from other universities balancing the male-female ratio. The Union has said that having a joint ball will mean that there is more money for live acts. However, all of the funding has come from the Union – the extra money coming from more ticket sales. It remains to be seen how many students from King’s and Goldsmith’s will attend but there is concern that Imperial students won’t be able to attend the after-party in Metric because of the limited capacity. Deputy President Ravi Pall admitted that this might be an issue on his blog, saying “it is expected more than 1000 people would want to attend the afterparty” and that the £5 charge for the after-party was aimed at controlling numbers.

No more dinner

The loss of the formal dinner has also created a stir. The Union argue that it’s not a financially viable part of the Summer Ball. They argue that it is “immoral” to subsidise the dinner tickets, which last year cost an additional £45 on top of a standard entry ticket and say that the number of students attending the dinner is too low to continue running it. In his initial blog about the changes, Deputy President Ravi Pall, who also promised moving the event to after exams in his manifesto, claimed that only 300 tickets were sold last year, however that figure has now changed to 158. After the backlash against the changes on Facebook, the Union said that they would consider holding a dinner and opened a poll to see if there is enough demand for a £38 per person dinner in the SCR. The dinner will be quite unlike previous years, students will dine at different times depending on when they prefer. According to the Union, less than 150 students have said that they would want to go to the dinner, making it financially unviable.

What will you wear?

The bulk of the anger has been reserved for the ambiguity of the dress code. With the previous evening format, the dress code was straightforwardly black tie. However, with an all-day festival it’s not clear if that’s practical. The Summer Ball website says that the dress code is “Dress to Impress!” but leaves the final decision to the discretion of students, “Fancy dress, black tie or casual – whatever you think is best”. Students have lamented what they see as the loss of their main opportunity to dress up with their friends at the end of the year, or indeed at the end of their time at Imperial, and the demand for a formal dress code was so high that an online petition was set up demanding that the dress code be changed. It remains to be seen what will happen on the day, whether students will all telepathically decide to dress similarly, or if the event will see ripped jeans rubbing up against cummerbunds and bow-ties. Similarly, will the new changes be a breath of fresh air or the death of a formal ball that was loved by many?

Correction (06/05/2011 – 13:32) – The article incorrectly stated that there are three student members of the Ents Committee, there are four.