Last Friday night, over 120 students attended the “Bring Back the Date: Do You Believe in Magic?” event in Edge Caf?e. The turnout raises questions about how satisfied our student body actually is with the routine “casual” dating encounters.

It is commonly thought that our generation in general and, more specifically and significantly, our campus has adopted a sense of “casual” – especially when it comes to interactions with the opposite sex. This is discussed widely right here in the Maroon-News and between friends all over campus.

A female student once joked about a male student who asked her to “hang out sober” after they had already engaged in undisclosed interactions more than once. She said, “He could have just asked, ‘Can I see what you look like?'”

In an attempt to abandon this “casual” attitude toward dating, a new but-as-yet unrecognized student group called “Bring Back the Date” formed.

The group and the event stemmed from Leadership Opportunities for Tomorrow (LOFT) II, a living/learning community based at 94 Broad Street. The group was the result of a class project for Professor of Psychology Carrie Keating’s psychology course, “Leadership: How to Change the World.” Once all of the research and hypothetical proposals had been finished and the project was complete, the group saw no reason to abandon the project and, they decided to pursue the idea.

The evening featured a performance by magician, Terry Parrett, and the Mark Shiner Jazz Trio.

“He was really cool,” first-year Lucas Myerson said of the magician. “He put on a great show.”

The food was catered, and the affair was generously funded by Sophomore Year Experience, the Sophomore Class Council, the Wellness Initiative, Residential Life, Pan-Hellenic Association and the Chaplains. To attend the event, each student was expected to pick up a free entry pass in the COOP beforehand so the group could plan around those numbers.

The Edge was filled with students in dresses and sports jackets, some of whom even got up after dinner and danced to the sounds of the jazz band. No grinding occurred. All in all, the event appeared to be a great success.

“We didn’t expect to have this many people show up,” sophomore Cat Mendola, the event chairperson, said.

Although the group was only anticipating 77 students to arrive, approximately 125 people showed up. Although it seemed that most attendees were pairs of friends, there were at least a few couples present.

The group has already begun developing ideas for future events.

“Our plan is to have an organized date once a month,” Mendola said. “We have ice-skating, bonfires, things like that. We’re just trying to provide the opportunity.”

The group developed based on the notion that there are not many legitimate dating opportunities on campus. Due to the large turnout, it seems clear to Mendola that many students share the group’s sentiment.

The group’s Student Government Association petition to become a legitimate student group was filled with signatures by the end of the night, and they are currently working to develop a constitution.