Mixed reviews for Martel’s Texas Party

By Belinda Zhu     9/10/24 11:02pm

Martel College hosted the first public of the year, Don’t Mess with Texas, Sept. 7. Tickets were separated into quad and sundeck locations, with sundeck tickets distributed based on first-come-first-serve priority of Google Forms submissions. 

Martel Chief Justice Nathan Calzat said the ticketing system was the same as in prior years. 

“To my knowledge, tickets for the quad and sundeck were always separated,” Calzat, a Martel junior, said. “It makes things easier with different capacities on the sundeck and quad so that way it’s easier to keep track of who is supposed to be where.” 

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Calzat said that he didn’t feel that there were more restrictions imposed than in the past, despite increased regulations from the Alcohol Policy Advisory Committee after Night of Decadence last fall. 

“I wouldn’t say there were restrictions,” Calzat said. “We decided to remove the beer garden to keep things simple, and we didn’t think it would be missed. I didn’t hear anybody complain about it, so I don’t think it was. But other than that, it was pretty straightforward and a lot like previous years.“

Josh Stallings, a Duncan College junior, stated the party felt emptier than usual.

“There were definitely people showing up, but they biased the tickets towards quad more than Sundeck, so both areas felt pretty empty,” Stallings wrote in a message to the Thresher. “I liked that they tried to set up games in the quad as an activity [or] olive-branch since I know the socials wouldn’t have split the party unless they were told to do so.”

Han Xu, a Martel sophomore, felt that the party was less enjoyable than last year. 

“It was the worst party ever,” Xu said. “It was worse than last year because they released much fewer tickets. It was also organized in a way that separates people from the quad and the sundeck. ”

Calzat said that although there was greater RUPD presence, it didn’t change the party much. 

“We had 14 officers at [the] Texas party while there were only eight at the morning party,” Calzat said. “In the grand scheme of things, that didn’t restrict us at all, and we just had more officers there to help us out with what we needed. They weren’t overbearing and just stayed back.”

Stallings said publics have changed post-NOD.

“[The party] was definitely objectively worse than last year’s and the one before that,” Stallings said. “It’s unfortunate to see how publics have to be accommodated in a post-NOD setting now, since admin is limiting capacity more, and everyone is, in general, much more wary about medical emergencies happening ... I volunteered both this year and last, and can say for sure the attendance this year was less and so was the overall excitement for the party.”

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