If you were punctual enough, a pale blue ticket a little longer than the length of one’s hand allowed you to attend 50 Nights, an event celebrating 50 nights until graduation, thrown by the Senior Class Council. As underclassmen, we handed over five dollars for a Friday night of music, pizza and ice water (I am not 21 so I did not have a wristband that gave you access to the bar). At around 10 p.m., my rag-tag group of girlfriends and I got on a yellow school bus—which I assume was a total throwback and full circle moment for the seniors—and were driven to The Academy. You could hear the DJ sets of house music before the bus doors even opened. But even before the ominous, throbbing baseline set the scene, I felt both curious and cautious. With our quirky and sometimes obsolete party culture, what would a Vassar graduation-related celebration even look like? Like a good Brewer, I went to the source. I read The Miscellany News articles about 50 Nights from 10 years ago. They did not disappoint.
The structure of the event has not changed much. It is still an event 50 nights from graduation held off campus that students are bussed to. But, 10 years ago, things got out of hand and the Vassar bubble popped. At a now non-existent nightclub called The Chance, ViCE (Vassar College Entertainment) Special Events and the Class of 2014 hosted 50 Nights, featuring electronic music artists. Vassar students vandalized the venue and the transport, assaulted security at The Chance and even formed a mob on Main Street that was broken up by police. In response, the 2014 editors of The Miscellany News penned an article suggesting some changes to the event that could help regulate an event like 50 Nights that occurs outside the Vassar bubble.
Two changes that they suggested were a part of the event as we know it: a ticketing system with a preference for seniors and staggering buses so that there is not a rush that could endanger students or bus drivers. Reading those articles was surprising and seemed unlike the Vassar College student body I know. But I believed the numerous first-hand accounts, so I entered 50 Nights with reservations. I kept to myself to avoid ruining what is intended to be a joyous occasion. The Academy is a deceptively large venue. We moved from the first to the second floor, getting a lay of the land. We stayed upstairs for most of the night to dance once they started playing music with lyrics, only going downstairs to take breaks and hydrate. There were no fights, no vandalism and no disrespectful or threatening behavior of any kind, to my knowledge. One of my friends even did the worm. Multiple times. So it is more than safe to say my friends and I had a great time at 50 Nights.
The venue did not feel crowded due to its size and the limited number of students. I could only tell that there was a sizable number of attendees when I looked over at the bar, another facility that was not there ten years ago. The editors of The Miscellany News worried that the inability to have alcohol at the venue encouraged students to indulge in harmful binge drinking before the event, causing them to be impaired or incapacitated off campus where they felt less authoritative power over their actions. But that was not the case on Friday night. The bars, one on each floor, had a steady flow of students. It seemed like quite the effort to get to the front, and the most determined (or physically advantaged men over six feet) were rewarded for their successes in doing so with whatever beverage their little hearts desired.
All in all, 50 Nights was a fun school event. I am glad we were not repeating past Brewers’ mistakes. It was an interesting experience to be able to compare the events and see what worked and what did not. The 2014 article mentioned that Vassar frequently shuts down long-standing events if they become unruly and they saw 50 Nights going down the same path if it did not restructure itself. Ten years later, 50 Nights still stands and clearly does not represent the same things it did a decade ago or even have the same reputation. People were a little drunk, the student DJs played the classics and, unlike a night at the Town Houses, I was driven home in a warm school bus with my friends. It was wholesome and the perfect excuse to dress up and celebrate (personally, I was celebrating the start of the weekend and an A on a midterm). But the event was not really for me, it was for the seniors. I can only hope that every senior there enjoyed celebrating the milestone of 50 Nights until they fulfill the incredible achievement of higher education and every night since their first day of orientation that has led up to it!
