<p>There are a lot of things I like about MIT, but I just don’t understand why MIT is giving dorms an institutional carte blanche to allocate house funds to hire strippers to entertain at house parties.</p>
<p>It sounds as though the proposal started out as a joke but has now taken on a serious life of its own. According to the student organizers, it “may or may not happen,” but apparently there is no institutional obstacle to spending house funds for this purpose.</p>
<p>It’s unfortunate enough when individual members of a sports team pool their private funds to hire a stripper to entertain at a party, but allowing the use of MIT housing budget funds for this purpose sends a message that MIT considers this expenditure an appropriate use of institutional funds.</p>
<p>What’s interesting about the article linked above is that the MIT House Master seems primarily concerned about the possible long-term damage to the personal reputations of the individual students involved in organizing the party.</p>
<p>What about MIT’s institutional reputation? What about the implicit message MIT is sending to prospective applicants and parents?</p>
<p>MIT spent a lot of money building more dorms (including Simmons) so that all freshmen could be required to live on-campus under the guidance of professors and grad students in residence.</p>
<p>From this article, it seems that the lessons the MIT students have learned thus far is that if they are going to hire strippers, they also need to make sure to hire security.</p>
<p>"…but you don’t see the kind of rogue, interesting stuff that we used to see at MIT.‘’ — So when Marilee Jones talks about rogue, interesting stuff, does she mean strippers?</p>
<p>According to this article, it appears that this sort of thing was a long-standing tradition at another MIT dorm.</p>
<p>EDIT: In the light of Marilee Jones’ quest to reduce the “stress of the admissions process,” it’s also interesting that the article linked in my OP above mentions that the original idea behind the adult entertainment party was “to relieve stress during finals.”</p>
<p>A student group I know of hired “Belly Dancers” under the guise of cultural exploration. Instead of ruining reputations the students added it their resumes as organizing events to promote cultural understanding.</p>
<p>Since most of the funds to hire the strippers probably ultimately comes from parents who pay for their kids to attend the college, I wonder how they feel?</p>
<p>I don’t think having strippers in the dorm is a good idea or should be allowed. There are many who’ll be put in a very uncomfortable situation by either attending or by being needled for not attending. If this was still being done in private industry (where it’s largely ceased), there’d be a fear of sexual harrassment lawsuits. The potential impact on future careers is an interesting one and one that most of the 17-21 year-olds are probably not focused on. I’d also question the legality of having the strippers perform in the presence of 17 year-olds (some will surely attend). I assume it’d be illegal.</p>
<p>I’m sure there are places the individuals can go and spend their own money for such entertainment if they like. They should leave the pooled funds for more appropriate functions.</p>
<p>What is the difference of bringing in a performing artist or a speaker like Ward Churchill? I doubt sexual harassment law applies here. Schools have been putting on controversial plays etc for years. UW had a nude Peter Pan once. Now that got everyone excited.</p>
<p>I believe MIT has long had a profoundly non-parental culture. So hiring strippers is legal, not necessarily the role of the university to teach students lessons about life.</p>
<p>Maybe they should have an NRA meeting instead? :)</p>
<p>Hey, lighten up. There are many, many other things to be agast about then strippers. If you can’t trust YOUR kid to do the right things, isn’t that on you? </p>
<p>I actually find it entertaining that an elite “intellectual” school wants to get alittle rowdy and danerous. grrrrrrrowl. </p>
<p>[I’m sorry I can’t stop laughing about this one. It’s actually pretty funny. ]</p>
<p>Opie Opie Opie, if you want to laugh at parental concerns, at least use your spell checker. I personally was aghast when I read the press release on the MIT web page.</p>
<p>I am actually not sure what the rules are surrounding use of dorm funds. I do know they can’t be used for alcohol, but I’m not sure if there are other specific rules governing the use of house funds.</p>
<p>At any rate, the dorms get a certain amount of money per year, which they use to reimburse students for approved expenses. So the money is already with the dorm – it’s not that the students will ask MIT for the money.</p>
<p>opie: I’m starting to think you’re not from Mayberry after all.</p>
<p>barrons:
Isn’t the euphemism of ‘performing artist’ a bit of a stretch for the average stripper? A nude Peter Pan is something I don’t even want to think about.</p>
<p>I’ll take a leap here - I wouldn’t be happy as a parent if my money paying for my kid to go to school was being used for a ridiculous purpose of hiring strippers. This isn’t just about the kid doing the right things, it’s about the school appropriating required funds in an inappropriate way.</p>
<p>Oh, yes, the school does control the funds, if it has a prohibition against using them for the purchase of alcohol. If that is not allowed, adult “entertainment” can and should be prohibited, as well. If the school gives the funds, it still would be ultimately responsible if something occurred and there were a lawsuit.</p>
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