BSA Partygoers Left Dancing in the Dark

Students at an Adams House dance on Saturday were left in the dark, with some escaping through the doors and others through the windows, after a power switch was flipped in an apparent act of vandalism.

At about midnight, the music suddenly stopped at the “Ugly Dance,” sponsored by the Black Students Association (BSA), and all the lights in the dining hall and entrance went out. More than 400 partygoers were stranded in the darkened hall, with several more outside waiting to get in.

No one was injured in the resulting rush, though, and police have no leads on the identity of the perpetrator.

“We’re not even sure it’s a crime,” said Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) spokesperson Peggy A. McNamara. “Maybe more like disturbing the peace, a suspicious activity.”

Brandon A. Gayle ’03, president of the BSA, was in the entrance hall at the time.

“I ran back to the electrical room to see what had happened, and the door was wide open,” he said.

Gayle saw no obvious damage to the lock and denied rumors that it was a racist attack, hypothesizing that it was probably just a practical joke.

Most people began filing out of the door almost immediately after the lights went out, trying to avoid the stifling heat of the party. Some clambered out the windows.

“It was really hot. That was my main concern, not the power going out,” said Olugbenga K. Okusanya ’05.

Twenty minutes after the black-out, an announcement was made to the remaining partygoers that everybody should go home. By 12:30 a.m. the dining hall was cleared, but half an hour later there were still so many people milling around in the streets outside that HUPD was called in to disperse crowd.

The BSA will be co-sponsoring another dance this Saturday and students say they plan to carefully guard the electrical cupboard.

“We will try and keep someone near that [electrical] room at all time,” Okusanya said. “But as an organization we just have to move on.” an announcement was made to the remaining partygoers that everybody should go home.

By 12:30 a.m. the dining hall was cleared.

Half an hour later there were still so many people milling around in the streets outside that HUPD was called in to disperse crowd.

The BSA will be co-sponsoring another dance this Saturday.

Students say they plan to carefully guard the electrical cupboard.

“We will try and keep someone near that [electrical] room at all time,” Okusanya said.

“But as an organization we just have to move on.”