For many, Spring Weekend heralds a suspension of normal rules and responsibilities before students start to get serious about finals. The weekend often stretches into more of a week, starting with earlier events like Wednesday's Mr. and Ms. Brown pageant and continuing until the traditional Sunday afternoon performance by Dave Binder on Wriston Quadrangle. Students' desire to drag out the festivities is well-summarized by the popular "bender till Binder" t-shirts.
But this bacchanal is not for everyone. The season brings many other commitments, from competitions to conferences to contemplation to coursework — and some students just choose not to go.
Hell-raising on the Hill
"I don't like the whole culture of (Spring Weekend)," Brian Lin '12 said. It "rubs me the wrong way that there's a week to waste yourself," he said.
Many students approach the event with the attitude that they are so stressed they "need a whole week to be shitfaced," he said. Lin recalled seeing a student during Spring Weekend stumbling around with her pants down, clearly a "huge mess," he said, adding that it is hard to imagine how anyone would not be "sickened" by the sight.
Even the Encyclopedia Brunoniana politely refers to drinking as "always a traditional part of Spring Weekend." But students' experimentation can take on a bolder dimension. Students for Sensible Drug Policy at Brown offers a testing service to check the purity of ecstasy. The student group's Facebook event page reads "Spring Weekend's coming up. Crazy times often come with some colorful pills."
Lin said he feels as though this "week of insanity is a tradition" that encourages many people to partake because they feel it is permissible.
Ivayla Ivanova '11 did not go to Spring Weekend her first two years at Brown. When she went for the first time last year, she said she got a headache from the smoke around her, though the concerts were outdoors. In general, the smell of pot "hits me in the head," she said. Though she said she still enjoyed the weekend, she wished the administration would better regulate marijuana use at the concerts to make the experience tolerable for students sensitive to drug use.
The Contemplative Studies Initiative is offering meditation retreats Saturday and Sunday called "Staying Grounded on Spring Weekend." The workshop is part of a regular series of events, but this year it happened to coincide with Spring Weekend, said Harold Roth, professor of religious studies and East Asian studies and director of the initiative. The event is for students who do not want to participate in Spring Weekend or for students who want to attend Spring Weekend with the "tools to participate in an intentional" and "more grounded way," he said. The workshop — which is filled to capacity with 60 registered participants, 44 of whom are students — should enable attendees to enjoy the weekend without having to "alter consciousness" with "excesses and chemicals," he added.
‘Bigger than Spring Weekend'
Other students would have liked to attend the concerts and surrounding activities but had conflicting commitments.
Jamison Kinnane '12 will not be able to attend the festivities because she is on the Brown Mock Trial team, which is participating in this weekend's national tournament in Iowa. She said she would have liked to see Diddy Dirty Money but was not particularly enthusiastic about some of the other artists. "TV whatever," she said, referring to Friday night headliner TV on the Radio.
Almost 40 students from Brown will attend Power Shift, a national climate change conference in Washington, D.C., this weekend.
The four-day conference is only held once every two years, whereas students "can technically party every weekend," said Gina Roberti '14, one of the students who is helping to organize Brown attendees.
The conference "is going to be just as fun" as Spring Weekend with speakers, concerts and workshops, said Jacqueline Ho '14, the other organizer.
The chance to recharge the environmental movement on campus is "bigger than Spring Weekend," she said.
Kevin Deemer '11 is going to the annual music festival Coachella in California this weekend instead of staying on campus.
In a message to the Herald, Deemer wrote he has "mixed feelings" about missing "one of the most fun weekends of the year." But he said he felt there is "no comparison" between Spring Weekend and Coachella, which attracted many of the performers students were hoping to see. The California event will have hundreds of thousands of attendees and upwards of a hundred performers, including Kanye West, Arcade Fire and the Strokes.
All of the hype
"Everyone knows the real party's in the (Center for Information Technology)," said Rakesh Patel '13, who will not be attending any of the weekend's events. "Sunlab dude? Yeah, dude," he said. "It's gonna be wild."
He said he "never even gave (Spring Weekend) a thought" because he would "rather be in the CIT programming shit."
Graduate students may also choose not to participate because they are not as connected to campus life as undergraduates. Dave Fossum GS, a first-year doctoral student in ethnomusicology, said he had not heard of the events. "I'm sure after this weekend I'll know what Spring Weekend is," he said, adding he might be interested in going — especially as someone who studies music — after checking out who is playing.
During his freshman year, Michael Tackeff '12 did not know any of the bands performing and felt tickets were expensive, so he decided to forego the concert. Instead, he "just chilled in Keeney" where he was "alone in the dorm," he said.
After the first night's concert, Tackeff said he decided not going "was a huge mistake" and unsuccessfully tried to get tickets for the second night. When friends came back to the dorm raving about the experience, Tackeff said he realized Spring Weekend was "more a social experience."
Brown Concert Agency Booking Chair Abby Schreiber '11 said the event is a "celebration of Brown and of each other." She added that because Brown is not a huge sports school, it is hard to generate real school spirit any other way.
This year though, the weather may interfere with some students' plans.
Residents of dorms on the Main Green receive free tickets to the concerts when they are held outdoors, so many chose not to buy tickets online. Hope College resident Ben Laur '14 said he had been planning to attend at least the Friday concert with the free access, but because of the BCA's rain call, Laur is now without tickets.
The decision to hold the concerts indoors is "kind of annoying" because it might not even rain, he said, adding that outdoor concerts provide a "much more fun environment."
