New regulations seek to curb Ring Dance damages

Contracted police and the Jefferson Hotel's own security guards will strictly enforce regulations at this year's Ring Dance, Westhampton College Deans Juliette Landphair and Kerry Fankhauser said.

The new measures, which seek to restrict entry only to those who purchased tickets, are in reaction to widespread vandalism of the Jefferson Hotel property during previous years of Ring Dance.

Damages from last year's vandalism were the highest recorded since Ring Dance moved from campus to the Jefferson in the 1970s, Landphair said, and included the cost of cleaning, repairing or replacing:

-- Paintings ripped off walls and hallways

-- Shattered glassware

-- Staircases, elevators, carpets and rented-out rooms damaged by drinks and urine

-- An ATM that was urinated on

Neither the deans nor a Jefferson representative could confirm the total value of damages or whether anyone had been arrested, but the deans said that they had learned of vandalism incidents from Jefferson staff, surveillance cameras and anecdotal accounts from faculty and guests of junior women.

The mother of a then-junior, who refused to be identified, wrote in an e-mail:

"Last year, I had a full glass of wine dumped on my head (from behind, while dancing, by mistake, but no apology given) and my husband was spat upon (by a laughing girl in an elevator whose mouth was full of crackers -- she did apologize).

"Plus twice -- twice -- I was fallen upon by stumbling students. It was not an event that reflected well upon Richmond!

"As parents, we were bewildered that as soon as the ceremony ended we were hard pressed to find the girls in white dresses among all the other students, and we couldn't move from room to room because the fire marshals blocked access."

When the deans were asked who was responsible, Landphair said, "The crashers, primarily first year [students] and sophomores, who came to the Jefferson after the procession was over."

She said that there had been a correlation between increased vandalism and increased attendance, and that sophomores and freshmen crashing in great numbers was a recent phenomenon.

"I have been there for eight years," Fankhauser said. "I would recognize most of the people who were crashing the event and I would see cabs lining up and letting out as many underclass women, or underclass men, as they could hold.

"What I do know is that going back five or six years, you didn't have the number of incidents. [It was] behavior that you are likely to see at campus on a Friday night after a party. There were rooms that were basically trashed."

Fankhauser noted that men and women were equally to blame for vandalism and "really inappropriate behavior," and that both sexes were seen publicly urinating through surveillance cameras.

Landphair added, "The seniors historically coming to this have not been a big problem."

Of rowdy parents, Landphair said: "Years ago, we had an inordinate amount of out of control parents. It only has to be a few. I ended up writing a letter to the parents [after the dance], and reminding them that this experience was about the women. It seemed to make a big difference."

In anticipation of this year's Ring Dance, Landphair sent out two e-mails to Westhampton College students in which she explained that tickets costing $40 were only available to participating junior women's guests for the procession down the stairs, and that non-participating juniors and seniors could only gain entrance after 10 p.m. by paying $15 in cash at the door.

Landphair could not confirm if alumni would also be let in after 10 p.m.

Richmond, specifically the junior class, is responsible for paying damages to spaces not rented out by individual patrons.

"The profits from Ring Dance go toward the senior socials [next year]," Landphair said. " If there are $10,000 in damages, then that's $10,000 taken from the [then] senior class."

Anna Kuta, Westhampton College senior class president, said: "They're hoping to maybe reduce the number of total people. If it's not a free party, it's something that would be taken more seriously."

Some uninvited sophomores, whose names are being withheld, have plotted to bring the student ID cards of friends who are seniors, to bypass door security at the Jefferson.

At this year's Ring Dance, on Saturday, about 90 percent of junior women (excluding those studying abroad) will be attending, based on ticket sales.

"Most years we have 72 percent to 76 percent," Fankhauser said. "We gave some form of financial assistance to 35 junior women totaling around $7,400."

Junior class president Jackie Stockinger said that she and her cabinet were still receiving requests for tickets, and that she, for the most part, was unable to approve those requests.

Contact staff writer Tanveer Ahmed at tanveer.ahmed@richmond.edu