By Billie Kanfer '16, Features Editor
Halloween has come and gone, and after weeks of students preparing themselves for the “Halloweekend,” November has come in full force and the events of the former weekend are a thing of the past. After the cancellation of Moorebid, many students were in an upheaval about the decision, claiming that a Skidmore tradition had been taken away. Year after year, Moorebid presented itself to be a booze-filled, out of control “tradition” that caused many to reflect on its harm to the Skidmore community.
After speaking to fellow students around campus and other leaders, it was clear that the weekend was still a success and that Halloween was just as great as ever. Megan Schachter ’17, VP for Club Affairs, said that the weekend “went extremely well! Many groups on campus did their own events… all well attended, and did not encourage reckless drinking.” The clubs definitely did their part as both Friday and Saturday nights were filled with events to occupy students. From performances by Awkward Kids Talking, Breakbeats, the Accents and more, to sports games on both days, Halloween weekend wasn’t a let-down and encouraged on-campus fun within the Skidmore community.
In past years, the amount of hospitalizations sky-rocketed come Halloween weekend—last year the number of hospital visits was in the double digits, yet this year the number of ambulances decreased to three. I spoke to Brittany Dingler ’15, who works with SCEMS and said that while on-call Halloween night, there were much fewer SCEMS visits than there have been.
Skidmore has been aiming at making the community a much safer environment through programs such as the Social Norms Campaign, the First Six Weeks program, and the cancellation of Moorebid. Their efforts have so far seemed successful.