The Justice

The administration canceled the Liquid Latex Club's fall dance, citing concerns that its provocative theme doesn't differ enough from the club's previously banned "Less you Wear, Less you Pay" dance, the club said.

Last Friday the Department of Student Activities informed Liquid Latex, a campus performance art group, that it will not allow the group to follow through with its revised "Wear Anything But Clothes" dance scheduled for this Saturday, Liquid Latex said in a press release.

After three students at last fall's "Less you Wear" dance were transported to the hospital for alcohol intoxication, the administration determined that the annual dance posed safety risks, and should be held in a different format.

"I really feel that we would have had drinking under control with the way the event was marketed and the amazing amount of oversight and attention on the event," Liquid Latex co-coordinator Scott Frost '09 said.

"I feel that we are not going far enough in the separation from the 'Less You Wear' dance and there has not been enough time for a culture change to occur," Director of Student Activities Stephanie Grimes wrote in an e-mail to Liquid Latex, which was sent to the Justice.

Dianna Ma '09, a co-coordinator of Liquid Latex, negotiated the parameters of the dance with Student Activities two days before Student Life decided to cancel.

"We started planning this event last semester, so it's very frustrating to arrive at this impasse eight days before the dance is supposed to happen," Ma said in the release.

While students were charged between $1 and $4 to get into the "Less You Wear" dance based on how much clothing they wore, the admission price for the "Anything But Clothes" dance was going to be based on the creativity of students' attire, also on a scale of $1 to $4.

"The event would have been completely different than the 'Less you Wear, Less You Pay' theme," Frost said in the release. "The publicity it would have brought the club would have been great, and the theme of adorning oneself with untraditional attire fits in perfectly with what we do."

Every spring, the club organizes a show of student performers, clad in little but liquid latex.

Grimes explained in her e-mail to the club that shows like this do affect the Brandeis environment.

"Creative and risque events do have an impact on our whole community and we want to preserve a safe and welcoming environment for all of our members."

Frost said that concerns over sexuality are not a legitimate reason to cancel campus events.

"What concerns me most is that the University cites sexuality as a reason for canceling the event. As far as I'm concerned, regulating my sexuality isn't something I'm taking out debt for the University to do."

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