Reader Email – Salve Regina Just Sent Mass Email Asking Kids Not To Attend Foam Tonight
Reader Email
Hey Pres,
Thought you might appreciate all the love you’re getting from the Salve Regina admin. This is the email they just sent us about the show tonight. Viva la Stool
-Sean
Here is the Letter
Dear Students,
You may be aware of, or even are planning on attending an event tonight at the Dunkin Donuts Center in Providence known as the Blackout Foam Party. This event is held at other venues around the country, and has resulted in a number of injuries and alcohol/other drug overdoses which required hospitalization. If you are planning on attending this event, I urge you to use extreme caution, and would ask you to even consider not attending, given the aforementioned number of injuries and other problems associated with these events.
You should also know that there will be a high level of police supervision with this event, including bag and body checks at the entrance, and no one will be admitted who appears to be under the influence. Police will also be supervising this event inside the venue, and have announced they will have a zero tolerance for any unlawful or disruptive behavior or activity both in and around the venue, and will arrest any and all offenders.
Please know I am deeply concerned about your safety and well-being. I want you to enjoy yourself both on and off campus, and want to give you the best available information to ensure for a very safe and enjoyable college experience.
Best wishes,
Dr. Gerald Willis
Associate Dean of Students and Director of Campus Life
Office: (401) 341-2207
Email: willisg@salve.edu
I’ve tried my absolute best to keep quiet with all this Molly shit going on lately. I just felt like talking about it could do us no good. We’d just get lumped in with all the shit that happened at HOB and Electric Zoo. We’re an easy target because we have a blog and post videos and shit like that. Doesn’t matter that we’ve never had any issues remotely similar to what the press is obsessed with now. Doesn’t matter that we’ve been doing our thing for almost 3 years now. Doesn’t matter that our crowd is more of a party/drinking crowd than a clubhead crowd. None of that matters. People died at EDM shows. Blame it on Barstool. But having said that I couldn’t resist emailing this guy back.
Oh and by the way I think they should send emails about Molly to every concert. Not just ours but everyone. I’m not even sure what is going on with it. We want everybody to be safe just as much as we do. I wouldn’t touch it with a ten foot pole right now and neither should anybody else.
From: Dave Portnoy [mailto:portnoy@barstoolsports.com]
Sent: Friday, September 20, 2013 12:10 PM
To: ‘willisg@salve.edu’
Subject: Questions on email you sent out asking students not to attend our event tonight
Hi Doctor,
First things first. Thanks for the mass email to all your students letting them know about our event tonight. I’m sure if they didn’t know about it they’ll be real turned off when they google it and see our videos. It will be way too scary for them to ever think of attending. Anyway I have a few questions for you.
#1 – Have you ever sent an email like this out in the past? For example do you send the same email for Countryfest or any concert where thousands of college kids gather and there are always a handful of arrests?
#2 – Do you think it makes any sense pointing the blame at our event as opposed to putting the responsibility on the students? As far as I know we’ve never put 1 drink or drug in a kid’s mouth. We don’t profit from alcohol sales at the event. Kids who choose to do that activity do it themselves beforehand. This event doesn’t cause OD’s as you put it. Kids making poor decisions beforehand do.
#3 – What injuries are you talking about? We’ve now done over 250 events in the last 3 years. That’s hundreds of thousands of people at our events. I’ve never heard of these mysterious injuries you are referring to. Do you have any facts to back up anything you are saying?
#4 – Do you think college kids are safer in a controlled environment on a Friday night or partying in their dorms?
#5 – Contrary to popular belief we want everybody to be safe at our events. For the past 3 years they have been. That’s why we keep going back to the same venues over and over.
#6 – Have you ever had a real job? Being a school administrator certainly doesn’t count.
I look forward to your responses.
Sincerely
Dave Portnoy