Bates saw a return to Library Arcade dances on Sept. 14 with the Great Night to be a Bobcat dance. It was the first event since 2019 using the Library Arcade as the primary dance space.

“This is to bookend the late-night experience for Bates students,” Campus Life Coordinator Luke Allen said. What Allen refers to here is the use of the library quad for senior week events, celebrating the start and end of the Bates College experience in the same place. 

Great Night to be a Bobcat opened with a happy-hour, from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m., serving beverages at the Bobcat Den to 21-plus students. 

“Part of this dance is to introduce new students to Batesies’ favorite parts of the late-night scene,” Allen said. These highlights include use of the Den and Curb Cats food truck.   

“We hope this dance models the Campus Life mission to new students,” Allen said. “We want to ensure that this is a safe, accessible and fun event for everyone involved and show new students what the Bates student nightlife is all about.” 

Some upperclassmen particularly appreciated the happy hour as a time to reconnect with friends early in the semester. A concerted effort was made by Campus Life to make this an event accessible to all students. This was definitely achieved as Batesies of all years enjoying the music, Curb-Cats and company, as Bates kicked off the academic year. 

Some first-year students remarked how familiar it felt to dances they had attended in the past, but did add that the event as a whole was made much better by being outdoors.

“I definitely felt safer than at dances back in high school,” one first-year student said. “While there weren’t any chaperones, or anything like that, I still saw a lot of event staff there, which was nice.”

This certainly met Allen’s goal for the event. “We want[ed] to highlight traditions, late-night community values, and how events at Bates are safe, inclusive, and fun,” Allen said.