A real senior ball

Being that Senior Ball tickets are known to cost the equivalent of a vital organ, Deantini and Dean Boyce generously opened their wallets (budgets) to help out. In the interest of making the event more accessible,”students with the highest need will be able to receive a free ticket to the Senior Ball. Several half-price tickets will also be made available due to the size of the deans’ contribution.” The two deans plan on contributing to every Senior Ball fund following this year’s in hopes to reduce the financial burden for students in the future as well. Only seniors may qualify for a fully paid ticket. Follow this link to apply for a fully-subsidized/free ticket, and this one for general ticket sales (they start tomorrow). Send an email to honorcodetickets@cuseniorweek.com to request a half-priced ticket.

The official email from Viv Ramakrishnan, VP-Policy for CCSC:

Dear Columbia College,

I’m writing with news about an exciting collaboration between Deans Valentini and Boyce, CCSC, ESC and the Senior Week Committee that will ensure this year’s Senior Week is the most financially accessible yet.

Due to the generous financial contributions of Dean Valentini and Dean Boyce, for the first time ever, CC and SEAS students with the highest need will be able to receive a free ticket to the Senior Ball. Several half-price tickets will also be made available due to the size of the deans’ contribution
Moreover, the expanded accessibility to Senior Week will impact every graduating class going forward. The deans intend to financially support subsidization in perpetuity provided that student organizers continue to use the funds responsibly.

For some background, Senior Ball is the formal event during Senior Week that brings together the senior classes from all four undergraduate schools for a final celebration just prior to graduation. However, Senior Ball tickets typically cost between $90-$100, preventing several students from attending altogether. Councils first broached the idea of subsidizing tickets for low-income students with the deans back in the fall, and then the CCSC/ESC policy committees developed a full subsidization proposal this spring. Not only were the deans receptive, they elected to provide enough funding for the best-case scenario in our proposal, a version of which I have appended for those interested. The deans also stressed that student organizers have full autonomy to deploy their contribution towards subsidization as they see fit on a year-to-year basis.

In addition to to Deans Valentini and Boyce, we would like thanks to the Senior Week Committee for working tirelessly to help us develop the proposal and ensuring the logistics are handled. Additionally, Senior Ball venues used in the past had capacities of approximately 1100, meaning not all seniors could attend the event. This year’s Senior Week Committee found a new venue that will be able to hold all seniors who want to attend. Finally, we are deeply grateful to Dean Kromm and the staff of Undergraduate Student Life for handling the application and distribution process for subsidized tickets. This truly could not be done without them.

Ticket Info for Seniors: Earlier today the Senior Week Committee released detailed ticketing info to the senior class. For your convenience, the relevant links are below.

Application for fully-subsidized/free tickets (CC/SEAS seniors only): https://www.cc-seas.columbia.edu/node/32466
Link to the general ticket sales (sales start on 4/8): http://www.cuseniorweek.com
Half-price tickets: If you do not qualify for a free ticket but still feel the other options pose too large of a financial burden for you, then please emailhonorcodetickets@cuseniorweek.com.

Warmly,
Viv Ramakrishnan
VP-Policy for CCSC