Student ID swiping system will not be used at Risky Business
The proposed student ID swiping system will not be implemented at Will Rice College’s upcoming public party, Risky Business Saturday, Jan. 18. The proposal required swiping student IDs at scanners before entering publics to shorten attendee verification times and long lines.
Risky Business will follow the same post-APAC regulations and pre-existing rules as publics last semester, said Ayaan Riaz, Will Rice’s chief justice.
Editor’s Note: Ayaan Riaz is the Thresher’s web editor.
“We were explicitly reassured by Student Activities that we were not being forced to implement or beta-test any proposed changes to the ticketing system,” Riaz, a junior, wrote in an email to the Thresher.
Tickets for Risky Business will be transferable according to emails from the Will Rice socials committee. With the proposed ID swipes, students would no longer be able to transfer tickets.
Last semester, college presidents met and discussed concerns regarding ticketing and entry for publics with Dean of Undergraduates Bridget Gorman. Along with swiping IDs, another APAC recommendation was for volunteers to verify the sobriety of people entering the public. Gorman said that this is one idea among several that are under consideration for future publics.
“Since the release of the APAC report last year, which addressed health and safety concerns related to public parties, the Student Activities team has been collaborating with colleges to discuss and refine ticketing plans and share best practices,” Gorman wrote in an email to the Thresher. “While there are currently no plans to pilot the system at a public party this semester, we continue to explore solutions to enhance the ticketing process and reduce wait times at event entrances.”
The system was first suggested in April 2024 but has not been implemented.
“The first time the new ‘swipe’ system for public entry was mentioned was immediately after Martel’s 2024 Beer Bike morning party, where we saw massive lines for the Rice [student ID] and NetID checkpoint,” Riaz wrote. “As the idea developed, additional steps were added in addition to the Rice ID swipe. Either a student or an Emergency Management employee would be prompted to answer questions about prospective attendees’ apparent intoxication status and whether they had any contraband (drugs, outside alcohol).”
Information regarding drugs and alcohol would not be recorded and would only be used for safety reasons, said Will Rice president Felipe Lerner.
“The information was supposed to be anonymous and only meant to remind the people managing the line what they were supposed to do, meaning look out for drunk people and don’t let them into the public,” Lerner, a senior, wrote in an email to the Thresher. “We pushed back against that for multiple reasons, one of the main ones being that it would put the students, both those managing the line and those wanting to get into the public, in an uncomfortable position. [Administration] said that was a minor detail and they seemed agreeable to getting rid of it.”
Capacity is another topic of discussion among college student leadership. Riaz said he’d received complaints that since fewer tickets were being distributed, groups of students planning to attend the party together may not all be able to go.
“My understanding from informal polls of Will Rice is that most students are frustrated with the post-APAC alcohol policy,” Riaz wrote. “As a result, even the individuals within those groups who do have tickets choose not to attend, which ultimately reduces the excitement and energy of the public.”
Riaz said another aspect of the capacity concern is confusion surrounding how it is calculated and regulated.
“The [Will Rice socials committee heads] and I were confused upon learning we could not expand the ticket capacity of the party even if we added our quad space to Risky Business,” Riaz wrote. “I don’t understand why we didn’t have this option given outdoor capacities were calculated for Texas Party and Sid ’80s.”
According to the APAC report, party ticketing is limited to the capacity of indoor space, while “outdoor space is just for ‘getting air,’ not for overflow capacity.”
Despite uncertainty around future publics, Riaz said he is looking forward to Risky Business.
“I’m proud of our Socials committee for putting together a Risky Business that we’ll remember, regardless of recent sentiment surrounding publics or restrictions from the university level,” Riaz wrote. “It’s been two years and too long since the last Risky. I’m excited to wear some boxers in public again — for the culture.”
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