Much of the buzz on campus this week is about Union Activity Board’s “Dirty Bingo” event, for which the prizes include vibrators, a copy of Fifty Shades of Grey and other adult goodies. Some students publicized their outrage on the Facebook page for the event. Patrick Dougherty, a senior in industrial engineering, calls the event disgusting. If you ask Technician’s editorial board, what’s really offensive is that UAB thinks people still want to read Fifty Shades of Grey.
The event scheduled for next Tuesday is one of the activity board’s smaller events — it was planned by the board’s Leisure and Entertainment committee chair, Ryan Doggett.
Thursday Doggett said he read about similar events at other universities that proved to be overwhelmingly successful, and he thought Dirty Bingo would be as popular.
Because this is a smaller event, it was approved by the Leisure and Entertainment committee and advisors — it was not put to vote by all of UAB. Each committee is given its own $1,500 budget. Pending the approval of full-time advisors, the committees plan events autonomously.
UAB has hosted sex education events in the past like, I Heart Female Orgasm and The J-Spot, another small event — but neither of those events drew as much ire as Dirty Bingo. The event is cosponsored by Peers Advocating for Choice of Knowledge, a department within Student Health Services — the group will lead the educational portion of the event.
Students who are offended by the event seem to have a cohesive argument: The board shouldn’t use student fee money to subsidize debauchery.
According to UAB president Lauryn Collier, The activities board spent $304.64 for the 25 prizes from Priscilla McCall’s. A few toys were yanked from the prize list in response to the criticism. “I can agree that some of the items shouldn’t have been purchased,” Collier said.
According to Collier, this event cost each student less than a penny. Regardless of the amount students indirectly give, it’s unreasonable to expect every event on campus to be in keeping with personal moral codes. Muslim students don’t protest when Campus Crusade for Christ receive Student Government appropriations, nor do Christian students bat an eyelash when the Muslim Student Association receives our indirect funding.
Collier wants to remind upset students that she and her committee chairs are students too. “Everyone makes mistakes,” she said. She also encourages students to get involved with UAB. Students can join any committee, even if only to plan one event.
There is talk of protesting the event on Facebook, but the activities board will move forward with the event.
“We can’t please everyone,” Collier said — though, the prizes should certainly help.
