Amidst the upcoming Halloween festivities, students at the University of Massachusetts should keep in mind the policies put in place for the weekend and night of Halloween.
As Halloween draws closer, UMass dining halls are prepping for their annual “All Tricks, No Treat” dinner. Starting at 5 p.m. on Oct. 31, Berkshire, Franklin, Hampshire and Worcester Dining Halls will begin serving lobster sourced from local seafood industries.
“It is truly a treat. It’s our most popular special,” said Garett DiStefano, director of residential dining services.
“It’s also a great opportunity for the campus community to come together around a great meal,” DiStefano added.
One meal swipe into the dining hall will equate to one ticket that can be redeemed for one lobster on that night. Along with lobster, the menu includes grass-fed beef, chicken chesterfield, roasted vegetables and “Worms and Dirt;” a dessert with pudding, gummy worms and cookie crumbs.
Entertainment will include magicians, musical DJs, tarot card readers, pumpkin painting and costume contests with cash prizes.
During Halloween weekend and the night itself, certain policies are encouraged by residential assistants to ensure an enjoyable and safe experience for all.
Masks and face painting that may obscure one’s face to the point of not being identifiable are prohibited. This policy is meant to ensure safety for personnel as well as to make identification of students when signing into residential halls as effortless as possible.
Cultural appropriation is also frowned upon. People should withhold from any costumes that could have racist or sexist undertones. Patrick Arsenault, a residential assistant in MacKimmie Hall, spoke about respecting others’ backgrounds while celebrating the holiday.
“We understand that people want to have fun, but we have to understand that people [come] from different backgrounds,” Arsenault said. “Certain things might have different meanings to other people. We want to be as inclusive as possible.”
In the residential areas, strict guest policies will be enforced during the weekend preceding Halloween. According to a guest policy update on the UMass website, from Friday Oct. 26 at 4 p.m. to Sunday Oct. 28 at 8 a.m., “Each resident is allowed a total of four guests, two of which may be non-UMass visitors.”
From Thursday to Saturday, more residential assistants will be put on duty to ensure safety in the residential halls.
The night of Halloween also falls on the same date as the potential game seven of the World Series, where the Boston Red Sox are playing the Los Angeles Dodgers. If the game series comes to a seventh game, residential staff members will assign more security.
The last time the Red Sox made it to the World Series and won was in 2013. The riot following the Red Sox victory resulted in Massachusetts state police coming out in full riot gear and 15 arrests.
Bonnie Chen can be reached at [email protected].
Amy • Oct 30, 2018 at 8:04 pm
It didn’t say that costumes were prohibited although liberals would try to do that if they could get away with it. Just wear whatever you want, nobody takes liberals on this campus seriously. They operate at a pre-school/infantile level while the rest of us have graduated past immaturity and live as adults.
Ed Cutting, EdD • Oct 28, 2018 at 1:13 pm
This is illegal — students at a public university have the right to wear any damn costume they please, and to offend whomever they wish.
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Imagine the outcry if costumes parodying the President (i.e. Trump) were prohibited. That’s no less unconstitutional than what UMass is saying here. You have a constitutional right to be as racist and sexist as you wish to be.
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It’s the same First Amendment that permits this newspaper to publish, and it’s worth defending.
amy • Oct 25, 2018 at 8:54 pm
Oh… another liberal article whining about Cultural appropriation. Again I ask the question, are we in college or pre-school? You have the freedom to dress up and wear whatever you want. If liberals don’t like this freedom, I suggest they move to a Muslim country where they can be told what to dress.
I am going to dress up as a social justice warrior for Halloween. I am asian, I give everyone permission to appropriate my culture(loophole in the cultural appropriation ban, a member of that culture can give permission to others to copy it; it’s a new rule. )
So feel free to dress up as a sushi chef, kung fu artist, Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, that funny ‘asian guy’ in Hangover. Whatever you please!! I am not offended, in fact I will think it’s awesome.