Students Denied Entrance to Abbot Casino
Students crowded around mock casino tables and shouted over large sums of “money” they won and lost at Abbot Casino. The event, held annually by Abbot Hall, featured casino games such as blackjack and poker. Numerous students attended the event, which originally required formal attire, in casual attire; chaperoning faculty asked some informally dressed students to leave Casino and return properly dressed.
Students should have been aware of the formal dress code prior to attending the event, noted Modern Languages Instructor and Abbot Hall dorm faculty member Ning Zhou. He added that most people who were denied entrance returned to their dorms to change and were granted access the second time. “This was the case for about 10 students. Six of them went back to the dorm to change and came back. Two were day students: as it's very difficult for them to change the clothes, I and the other faculty decided that we will let them enter. So I would say only two students were impacted,” Zhou said. “There might have been one or two students who snuck in because there was another door.”
Some students who attended in casual attire expressed disappointment at the lack of clarity surrounding dress code rules. Neither the Abbot Casino poster nor the Exeter Calendar details mentioned formal attire requirement. “I did feel uncomfortable because I probably should have dressed up more, but I didn't know it was supposed to be formal,” prep Anish Mudide said.
The attire discrepancy did not affect the success of the event, Zhou explained. “I don't think so because it was really a well-attended event and students had a great time,” Zhou said. “I talked to many Abboteers after the event, they all enjoyed the event very much… Only very few students were not able to enter. And if they were not able to enter, they were still able to enjoy some of the food and chat with their friends.”
Problems surrounding attendance in appropriate attire have only emerged in recent years, Assistant Director of Student Activities and faculty organizer Kelly McGahie claimed. “In the past, the dress code didn’t need to be enforced. People came dressed in their very best clothes and had a good time,” she said. “Within the last several years, though, I would say there have been a lot of changes, not just with Abbot Casino but with other events. People were showing up in attire that clearly would not be suitable even in the classroom.”
By showing up in casual attire, McGahie said, students show a lack of respect for their peers who planned the event. “I think it's disrespectful to Abbot, and I think it's disrespectful to everyone else.”
Some students felt that proper attire cultivates a unique atmosphere. “The dress code makes the event special because a lot of people get to wear clothes they don't wear every single day,” upper Hassane Fiteni said. “It’s this formal event with the flair of Las Vegas or anywhere in Macau. It's a nice, pleasant distraction from the day-to-day stresses of school to know that we can pretend to dress up and be in this opulent place for a couple of hours.”
Fiteni added that students who did not adhere to the dress guidelines detracted from the event’s purpose. “When somebody comes to the dance wearing something they would wear to track practice, it almost looks like you don’t care about the event, because you wouldn’t wear that to class,” Fiteni said. “The purpose of [Abbot Casino] is to feel glamorous and to feel special for a night.”
However, the clarity of the dress code was a concern for some students. “I think Abbot should have done a better job of outlining if the dress code could have included polos or if the dress code does not have to be a full-on sport coat,” Fiteni said. “Semi-formal is very vague. Nobody really knows what that means.”
McGahie clarified that Abbot Casino’s dress code should be interpreted as a “dress your best” message, and that exclusivity was not the goal. “You don't have to buy a new dress, you don't have to rent a tuxedo. You should have clothing in your possession on campus that is not gym wear. Dress your best,” McGahie said. “We're not on lockdown. I'm not going to spend my night going, ‘Oh my God, you're in a t-shirt, get out.’”
An enforced dress code seemed like a reasonable expectation, upper and Abbot resident Joshua Lum agreed. “I think that every student here can follow [the Academy’s] dress code,” Lum said. “So if they can follow [the Academy’s] dress code, they can at least show up to Abbot Casino in a sweater.”
Unfortunately, some Abbot residents felt that the Casino’s issues surrounding the dress code may have larger implications for the future of Abbot Casino. “I think if it keeps going this way, Abbot Casino is going to get canceled completely. We’ve tried taking steps, but [for example] we can’t enforce a dress code, which was a staple of Abbot Casino,” Lum said. “I already know the lowers next year are split on if they want to do Abbot Casino or not. And it’s sad, but I can see what’s happening.”
On the whole, Abbot organizers felt that they could learn from this experience to improve the event in future years. “We hadn’t anticipated that this issue would even come up,” upper Paul Rogers said. “Maybe we didn’t communicate as properly as we should have, and now that we know what’s happened, moving forward, we could avoid that by communicating better next year.”