Correction appended.
Students were glued to their computers last week in a race to obtain tickets to the annual Founder’s Day Ball.
The annual dance will held at the National Air and Space Museum on Feb. 21.
Student Government distributed tickets through a ticketing website event during 14 different time slots. The return to online distribution was SG’s attempt to ensure that the process is as fair and open to everyone that would like to attend as possible, according to Pat Kelly, who is the co-director of the AU founder’s department with Chandler Thornton.
“Waiting in line is disadvantages for students who have to work to pay for college, students who intern, or students who are in class and can’t afford to wait for several hours,” Kelly said.
For the past two years, students have been required to wait in line for tickets. Students waited up to six hours in line for a ticket, according to Kelly, who served as the SG president from 2013-2014.
A record of 2,000 students will be attending the ball, which is up 700 from last year, according to Kelly and Thornton.
“Our biggest priority was to make [ticket sales] more accessible to everybody,” Kelly said.
This year’s wait list has over 300 people on it, however SG is going through ticket records to ensure that only one ticket went to each person, according to Thornton. People are already starting to get off the waitlist, and Kelly and Thornton anticipate that the waitlist will continue to dwindle all the way up until the night of the ball.
There have been numerous instances of student’s signing up for more than one ticket, according to Kelly.
“We’ve been very vigilant that it’s one ticket for each student,” Kelly said. “We are definitely making sure that as many people can attend [as possible].”
Although this year a record number of students are attending the ball, the Founder’s Day Ball budget has remained the same over the years, according to Kelly and Thornton.
SG contributes $75,000 each year, and the Residence Hall Society contributes $20,000, according to Thornton.
A uniform budget means that Kelly and Thornton have to be “crafty” with their negotiations, Kelly said.
“We can’t get into the specific contracts for legal reasons, but ultimately we were able to work with venues and work with other parties involved to make something happen,” Thornton said.
Students have complained about non-AU students being unable to receive a ticket to the ball, but SG has not received many complaints about the switch to the online system, according to Thornton.
“Overall it looks like the majority of people that have expressed an opinion do prefer the online format to the in-person format, which we’re happy to see,” Thornton said.
One AU student, Tom Xiao, a three-year student in School of International Service, created a poll in the Founder's Day Facebook group, asking students whether they want lines to be brought back or not.
Xiao found that a majority of people preferred the online ticket system, he said. Xiao struggled to get a ticket online however due to computer problems.
“I was wondering if other people thought the same thing,” Xiao said. “On Yik Yak everyone was complaining, so I decided to open a poll.”
Although standing in line creates some chaos, Xiao would prefer to stand in line if SG could work out some way to get rid of the safety hazards, he said. One example of these hazards included students piling up in front of exits while waiting to get in line, he said.
“It gives people that put in the effort [a better chance] to get a ticket,” Xiao said. “But we shouldn’t be criticizing them for them [for that]. I think [SG] does a good job, and everyone I know is very happy about the Air and Space Museum.
A previous version of this article called the Residence Hall Association by the wrong name. The article has been updated to reflect the change.
