This semester’s flash rave, a biannual event that takes place in Coates Library the night before finals begin, will lack one of its most popular elements: Red Bull.
Laura Kalb, secretary of the Student Programming Board, is in charge of planning this semester’s rave. Kalb divulges that the lack of Red Bull is the result of concerns about the library’s mural.
“It’s not that SPB is trying to rid the event of Red Bull. It’s just that the rave happens right next to the mural. That was a really big concern for the library as well as part of the administration,” Kalb said.
The mural in question measures 15 feet by 80 feet, is titled “Man’s Evolving Images: Printing and Writing” and covers the south stairwell in the library. It was created by James Sicner and has become a point of interest on campus.
It has also become the backdrop for each flash rave. The rave takes place at the base of the stairwell, often expanding and wrapping up the stairs. Despite the brevity of the rave, the event requires a standard amount of cleaning up, and Red Bull adds to the mess.
Kalb stated that, in past years, cleaning up has fallen onto the shoulders of library staff.
“It can be a clean-up kind of a thing. It’s been put on the library more so than the students cleaning up after is kind of what happened,” Kalb said. “So it’s protection of the mural and to prevent serious clean up.”
In addition to the absence of Red Bull, this year’s rave is different because of its organizers. In past years, independent students have organized the rave, but, henceforth, the Student Programming Board will organize it.
Kalb explained that this change is not an indication of an administrative take-over.
“The Student Programming Board is taking over the event, I guess you could say,” Kalb said. “But I’m still a student; I’m still planning it; it’s still a student run thing. And, by all means, it’s not becoming centralized. It’s just to make sure the event continues to be continuous and stay on the same par level, so there’s not a gap in leadership, and, more so, so that we can work with the staff a little bit better.”
In terms of structure, this year’s rave will be nearly identical to its predecessors. It will be 15 minutes long and, once it concludes, students can move directly to the midnight breakfast hosted in Mabee Dining Hall.
