Tickets for this year’s 68th annual Boar’s Head Dinner sold out in less than 80 minutes, organizers report. The 630 tickets were sold first to seniors and then to the rest of the University community. The number of tickets is limited by seating capacity in Douglass Dining Center where the event is held.
“The speed of sales this year emphasized that attending this dinner is a privilege extended to the people who are motivated to come early and wait to buy tickets,” Boar’s Head Co-Chair Flint Spitler said.
Campus Activities Board organizes the dinner and sells out annually.
“Stories have it that in the 1980s, students waited in line for up to 6 hours in the cold and snow outside of Wilson Commons,” Spitler said. The event was moved to Douglass Dining for the “relative comfort” it provides, he said.
Organizers attribute the success of the ticket sale to increased visibility and publicity and excitement for the event among students. They are pleased to see a large turnout of seniors in their last chance to attend.
The night features performances by the Strong Jugglers, University Choir and Brass Quartet, carol singing and the traditional reading of the Boar–this year by Dr. Alan Dietsche, a biology professor. President Thomas Jackson will also attend. As part of tradition, the annual passing of the Boar will bestow it upon a new SA group.
“It transforms Douglass into a medieval hall,” Spitler said.
New year for debate union called ‘promising’
After last year’s stellar first place finish, UR’s debate team expects to keep the wins coming.
“The year has been really promising thus far,” varsity debater Christy Webster said.
Webster points to wins at tournaments at the University of Vermont and King’s College, and good results at other tournaments as well. The team has been to 10 tournaments thus far.
“The team is very excited to travel to tournaments such as Northwestern,” she said.
UR debate’s large novice team is bringing home results for the team. Webster pointed to wins from freshman Emily Desmond and senior Theresa Spaulding at Vermont and other strong finishes from the beginners.
While it remains to be seen whether the team can repeat their first place finish, the debate union has 60 members, many new to the team, to try and continue the success.
AIDS victims remembered at ‘Day with(out) art’
Sponsor groups Pride Network, Women’s Caucus and the Hartnett Gallery held the UR installation of “Day with(out) art” on Monday. The day is an international event that works to build AIDS awareness and remember its victims.
“The “Day with(out) art” is a symbolic representation of the impact that AIDS/HIV has had on our lives,” Pride Network co-director Dan Lioy said. “The idea is to remember those who have struggled with and often lost to AIDS/HIV by paralleling their absence with an absence of art,” he said.
According to the national group, Visual AIDS, the day inspires galleries to shut down and send their staffs to volunteer for AIDS organizations. Their Web site says the project has grown to more than 8,000 participating groups including schools and libraries.
The UR installation featured an information table in Wilson Commons and somber decorations such as black T-shirts on clotheslines around the Pit and lounges symbolizing the victims.
“The display was out in the open across the entire building to show the invasiveness and permanence of the disease,” Lioy said.
Lioy says that the groups wanted to bring it to UR because the school is so active in AIDS and HIV research.
The groups credited the support of the organization, AIDS Rochester in supplying condoms and other materials to raise awareness.
Lioy was pleased with the event. “It’s a simple but compelling exhibit,” he said.
Reporting by Dan Bobkoff.
