Dunbar Back-to-School Dance Delayed Amidst Community Concerns

To foster a more comfortable environment, Back in Black, the dance hosted by Dunbar Hall that usually kicks off the school year, will now take place on Sept. 26, two weekends after its normal date.

As it is the first dance after the summer, Back in Black is often considered the most popular dance: students are excited to be back on campus, so attendance in past years has generally been high. For many Exonians, the dance is a great way to let loose on the weekend after settling back into Exeter’s routine.

But recently, both students and adults complained to the Student Activities Office that there is a general feeling of discomfort surrounding school dances.

The Department of Student Activities believes that by holding the dance later in the year, new students will have more time to adjust to campus life and will avoid feeling overwhelmed at Back in Black. “We wanted to move the dance back a few weeks to give people the chance to get to know each other and feel more comfortable with people before the dance,” Joanne Lembo, Director of Student Affairs, said.

Many students agreed with this notion that Back in Black usually fosters a chaotic excitement caused by the start of a new school year.

“Most dances have a pretty safe nature and help the students have some fun and dance with their friends after a hard week of work.”

Senior Peter Duff said that the dance’s rowdiness can become overwhelming. “My first year, Back in Black was known for its debauchery and wildness. There is occasionally a very real risk of being trampled when the crowd sways or jumps around,” Duff said. “It really was very intimidating as a new student.”

Senior Emma Kim agreed that especially for new students, the dance can be daunting. “Too often new students are thrown into a dance unlike anything they’ve ever seen, and it can be overwhelming,” Kim said.

Lembo said that dances are not inherently a problem, but that the issue lies in a larger cultural “struggle on what is acceptable behavior,” exemplified at Exeter dances.

Some students see campus dances as unhealthy, propagating a "hookup culture" at Exeter.

“The newer students don’t know the majority of the returners, and some may try to take advantage of this,” senior Rebecca Ju, president of Student Council, said.

Senior Ernesto Brown said that many male students use the dance as an outlet “to make moves on people.”

Due to the low lighting and overall loud atmosphere, miscommunications on the dancefloor can occur. “People tend to assume someone is open to dancing when they may not be. This leads to some unsafe situations. Even a few seconds of unwanted contact can make someone feel very uncomfortable,” Ju said.

“I have enough faith in the Exeter community that if a student actively said “no” to a dance request they would be left alone,” Kim said. “But, there is always the chance that a student would be forced to dance in a way that makes them uncomfortable by either their peers or their dance partner.”

Others find dances to be a much-needed stress reliever after long weeks of homework and classes. “Most dances have a pretty safe nature and help the students have some fun and dance with their friends after a hard week of work,” upper Grace Williams said.

The move of Back in Black is not the first attempt from the Academy to lessen social pressures at school dances.

Last fall, faculty discouraged students from participating in the style of dance referred to as “grinding,” because faculty deemed it as too sexual, which had, in the past, left students and chaperones feeling uncomfortable.

Some students believe that the rules against grinding had an impact on the overall culture of dances.

“After the rules they enforced last year about grinding, dances have changed a lot,” upper Daniela Nemirovsky said. “I don’t think sexual safety will be as much of an issue this year.”

But, other students found that this restriction did little to affect the atmosphere of the dance.

In an article published last year in the Op-Ed section of the Exonian, former student Zoha Qamar ‘15 criticized the school’s decision to discourage grinding as a “pathetic” response to many concerns and claims of sexual assault issues on campus.

“Banning grinding does not eradicate the possible malicious intentions behind the real incidents of concern,” Qamar wrote.

Similarly, students this year are unsatisfied with the decision to push back the date of the dance, finding it too feeble of a response to the major problem of sexual assault. 

“I see the move of Back in Black as another weak attempt from the school to address student’s worry for their own sexual safety,” Senior Lucy Knox said. “Simply moving the dance doesn’t get to the root of the issue, which is the culture of sexual assault at Exeter often made apparent at dances.”