Last week's tabling of the "Less you Wear, the Less you Pay" dance by the administration-due in large part to the hospitalization of three attendees for alcohol-related sickness-was a proper and smart decision. As Student Life staff stipulated, the dance cannot-and should not-be repeated in its current form.While many students have already argued that the decision was rash and that the irresponsibility of the few should not affect the enjoyment of the many, their logic is flawed.

First and foremost, there are potential issues of liability that could have arisen if someone was seriously harmed, or even died, while attending the dance. Liquid Latex is a chartered club and, as such, requested and received Student Union-distributed funding to hold the event. In addition, University resources were used, a fact which-at least implicitly-condoned the event. This differentiates the dance from people drinking or consuming other illegal substances in their dorm rooms. Since the dance, when held, had the blessing of University officials, the ultimate responsibility can be traced backed to them, and in today's litigation-happy society, they should not be blamed for attempting to cover for themselves.

Along with the alcohol, the dance got out of hand in other ways. Many attendees thought the dance degenerated from a good time at the start of the night into simply a large amount of naked people in a dark room-with the expected consequences, such as extensive groping and other physical contact, which, although it may have been consensual, created an uncomfortable atmosphere for some of those present.

In addition, many of the dancegoers were even at locations other than Levin, dressed in ways that may have been inappropriate in public. While people may choose what they wear to an event, when they take such modes of dress outside, they should be aware that others may not wish to see them dressed (or, in this instance, not dressed) that way. And while people may not have considered this issue, the fact remains: There were those who did not want to see that which was shoved in their faces. While this alone, most certainly, is not enough reason to cancel the dance, when added to the whole equation it certainly doesn't help.

Another issue raised by the administration was that this year, unlike in previous years, none of the proceeds went to charity. While on its own, this would not have been a good reason to discontinue the dance, without the charitable contributions, "Less you Wear" had no redeeming qualities.

What does bear closer inspection, however, is what the money was actually used for. To wit, the event was held as a fundraiser for Liquid Latex's spring show. The Finance Board allocated the club approximately $1230 for the dance, an amount extremely close to what was raised at the door. What essentially happened was that students who attended the dance paid twice for the club's show. This simply makes no financial sense. Instead of using money and resources to fundraise, it would have been much more logical simply to request money for Liquid Latex directly from the F-board. This would have streamlined the process and avoided all these problems. If Liquid Latex still wanted to throw this dance, it should have done so using other funds.

In this case, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. While no single reason alone-with the possible exception of liability-would alone justify cancelling the dance, taken together, they provide a strong argument in favor of that conclusion.