Why I Chose to Vote “Yes” on the Senior Cocks Proposal

A proposal was raised last week to cancel one of the Senior Cocktails events and instead donate the $15,000 – $20,000 earmarked for the event to relief efforts in Haiti. The idea met with strong support among the senior class, as well as some dissent. Some critics have pointed out that the proposal is illogical: if we wanted to pay for the party in September, why wouldn’t we want it now? There’s a crisis in Haiti, but there was no lack of urgent crises to support across the globe in early Autumn. And why can’t we do both? Certainly any of us who could afford to spend $160 on senior event tickets can scratch together another $20 on our own to donate, without dipping into the money we already decided to spend partying.

Part of me laughs because these critics are right; their logic is entirely sound. Another part of me cries because HOW CAN YOU POSSIBLY say that having one more night on the town is MORE IMPORTANT than bringing food and water to thousands of people whose city was just destroyed? Really? I know I was presented with a very similar decision when I chose to buy my tickets. What has changed?

Logic isn’t all we’re made of. The ways that we are sheltered from, desensitized to, or put in intimate contact with certain world realities influences our priorities and actions. When I paid for my senior cocktail ticket, a certain (familiar) configuration of those perceptive filters made it feel like the best way to spend my money. At this moment, the vivid potential of collective action and the startling juxtaposition framed by the proposal ($15,000 for Haiti or a party for our class?) have shifted my direct experience of the situation at hand, and with it my priorities. One could suggest that our usual judgment reflects clear vision, whereas the intense juxtaposition presented in the Senior class survey causes distortions – but it’s just as easy to argue the opposite (everyday judgment is distorted by desensitization whereas moments like this are more lucid). Whether we like it or not, we are ethically and emotionally sensitive to context, and our valuations are conditioned by framing.

UPDATE: Read the email sent to the senior class here.

**Because this post seems to have struck a nerve and is slowly getting buried under event posts, it has been stickied to the top of the page. Please continue the (mostly) civil conversation. I encourage anyone who has something to say to go ahead and comment despite what response they think they’ll receive. Don’t forget to scroll down for new posts!**

As many of you have heard, the senior class presidents recently emailed all members of the senior class with a proposal to cancel the next senior cocks and instead donate the $15,000 allotted to that event for relief efforts in Haiti. That email was sent out on Monday and we have until today (Wednesday) to vote on it.

In the days since, a facebook group has been created and a pretty heated discussion has developed on the ACB. In the midst of Haiti hysteria (fueled partly by compassion and partly by a perverse interest in large scale destruction), the overwhelming majority of discussions have centered on how people can help more than they already have and how what has been done is nowhere near enough. It has become our responsibility and moral duty to get involved and help a people who have already been dealt more misfortune than we can even understand by giving up some of our excess.

Wesleyan students were impressively quick in organizing themselves to come up with strategies for aiding the relief efforts. That is commendable and I really hope that they are successful in their mission. However, this hastily made proposal to cancel senior cocks, has brought out a lot of knee-jerk reactions to vote “Yes” from people who sincerely want to help any way possible and people who were never really behind the idea of senior cocks anyway.

I know I, and many others, don’t appreciate being made to choose essentially between partying and donating to charity. That’s a choice I make every time I party and don’t donate money, but now there is a lot of social pressure to vote a certain way. This post is a chance for me to express what appears to be a very unfavorable opinion that a surprising amount of people share. I also hope this can open up discussion.

(I hope you’re all over the age of 16, ’cause there’s gonna be a lot of cocks in this post.)

The senior class officers have come up with a potential way of helping Haiti earthquake victims – cancel the Senior Cocktail scheduled for February, and donate the $15,000 that would’ve been used to organize it to relief efforts. From their email to the senior class:

We realize we cannot make a decision of this magnitude without your input, and have therefore created a survey to gauge the class response to this proposal. Although the money was collected for the specific purpose of senior cocktails, we are inspired by the impact that a donation of this size could have.

[…] Our decision will be determined by the majority vote. If we receive a favorable response to the proposal, we will send a follow-up survey to determine which organization we will send the donation to. If the class votes to make the donation, anyone who prefers to be reimbursed for the $20 from the senior pass for this event can anonymously do so.

Feel free to email us at seniorclass@wesleyan.edu with any feedback or suggestions.

Seniors, check your email for a link to the survey, where you can vote by Wednesday night (1/27).

I’m a little torn, myself. Get bused to a one-night boozefest next month, or passively help rebuild Haiti? Dilemma.