Just because Halloween is the devil’s night doesn’t mean that one needs to partake of the devil’s brew.
The Riley residence hall will be hosting its annual Halloween dance party Saturday from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. The function, coordinated by the Riley Resident Council and the International Student Association, is designed to bring students together to have fun in a safe and legal way, said Yu Bai, co-director of the ISA.
“We want to encourage interaction between the international students and the American students,” Bai said.
The ISA is involved in this event partly to expose the international students to an interesting aspect of American culture.
“In many foreign countries, they don’t have Halloween,” Bai said. “This is a new experience for those students.”
Although Riley is officially the international residence hall, it is open to all University students. Riley resident director Carl Yeh wants to eliminate any inhibitions that domestic students have about coming to the dance.
“Students shouldn’t be afraid to come into Riley and get in on the action,” Yeh said.
Once students arrive at the party, however, fear becomes part of the equation. There will be a haunted house in the basement designed and maintained by the Riley residents that students can enter for $1. But there may just be enough spooks wandering around in costumes to turn students pale.
“There were some amazing costumes last year,” Yeh said.
Other attractions at this year’s party will be a live professional DJ, free snacks and non-alcoholic mixed drinks, fortune telling and digital photos.
The digital photographs are a new addition to the dance this year. They will work much like a photographer at a typical dance, except instead of purchasing prints, a digital image will be sent to two e-mail addresses for a $1 charge. Pictures can be sent to additional addresses for 50 cents each.
“I’m surprised that more dances don’t do more things with digital images,” Yeh said.
This new twist is just one addition to the long-standing tradition of the Riley Halloween party. This tradition is something that Katie Bryant, assistant director of residence life, thinks has people coming back.
“People have gone in the past, and they come back year after year regardless of whether they live in the residence halls,” Bryant said.
Although the event is not on Halloween, Yeh doesn’t think it will deter students from coming.
“Most students have the time on the weekends to come,” Yeh said.
Riley Hall is located at 650 E. 11th Ave. The dance is free, but University ID is required for entry.