The Prom v. Anti-prom conflict has been a divisive issue since it was first announced that a small group of Lincoln students were planning to throw their own dance, independent of the school. Rumors about both events have circulated around campus these past two months, but in preparation for the big night, Lion Tales spoke with Activities Director Ms. Kelly Phillips and Principal Matt Hewitson, who provided some much-needed insight into the two dances.

Both administrators clarified that the school has no plans to shut down the Mardi Grad event. While the school does not support this venture, they are not in any way affiliated with its hosts and thus will not actively attempt to prevent the dance from going on as planned.

“I have no intention of trying to shut it down, nor do I have any intention of getting any of them in trouble. I have real concerns about students’ safety. Just out of a concern for students’ safety, I didn’t want parents to be in a position where they had given their kid money to buy a prom ticket and find out that they bought a ticket to another event,” said  Principal Hewitson.

“It’s a party being organized to avoid the rules and supervision that come with a school event, so that’s my understanding of it right now.”

These concerns about safety come partly due to the “loose” restrictions advertised by Mardi Grad organizers. According to an official flyer, anyone age 14 and over is able to attend.

Students who chose to purchase a ticket for Mardi Grad may have done so for any number of reasons. Early rumors of Lincoln’s Prom facing cancellation, along with a wave of backlash against strict attendance requirements are partial causes behind Mardi Grad’s popularity, according to administrators.

“It was advertised by word of mouth and social media that tickets were sold through appointed coordinators who then sold them out of the trunk of their car after school,” said Ms. Phillips. “I don’t know how true that is. I was not aware of tickets being sold on campus…I had heard that they were being sold on campus, but after school and in the parking lot. Essentially you’re not allowed to sell anything on campus that is not school sanctioned or school sponsored so I don’t know what the ramifications would be for that.”

“It’s very upsetting, it’s really upsetting…it’s hard to know that certain students, particularly ones I know and have worked closely with are going to the Anti-prom. I totally 100% understand that you wanna go where your friends are going to be, I totally get that, but this is an opportunity for someone to stand up and do what’s right.

According to Ms. Phillips and Principal Hewitson, the requirements in place for the purchase of a Prom ticket have always been around; this year is no different. Therefore, these unprecedented levels of anti-establishment sentiment are unfounded and unreasonable.

“We want to make sure that the students who are attending and particularly the seniors who are attending are on track to graduate,” said Ms. Phillips.

“Once they pass nine unexcused tardies or three unexcused absences, they’re done. We started everybody fresh, it was from March 20 forward. And to be honest with you I was embarrassed to even say those numbers. That is a very generous number,” said Mr. Hewitson. “None of the rules are new rules, these are all rules that have been on the books.”

In a statement from the Principal, he reaffirmed that the school has maintained minimal contact with the students spearheading the Anti-prom effort. Both Hewitson and Phillips also admitted that their knowledge of specific Mardi Grad details were based partly on rumors spread by other students. Other than a short exchange with the parents of the event organizers, little action has been taken to negotiate directly with Anti-prom coordinators.

“A couple months ago I sent an email to the parents of the students who were hosting the event,” said Hewitson. “Most of the parents didn’t know that their students were doing anything of the sort and said that they were not going to have anything to do with it. A couple of the parents were aware of it and they were starting to meet with each other to talk about it, but other than [that] I’ve had no other meeting about it.”

“I know several venues have kicked them out, they’ve changed it a couple times the last I heard, they’ve got kind of a banquet hall rented out over by Senter Road,” according to Hewitson. “They published a royalty ballot, at the top of the ballot they said that every senior who bought a ticket is on the ballot. Well there’s only like 18 girls and 19 guys on the ballot. There you go, you’ve got 37 seniors.”

On the other side of the aisle is Lincoln’s official Prom, which ASB and Leadership have worked for months to organize. This event will take place at the Marriott Hotel downtown, and it has been confirmed by ASB that 280 tickets were sold. Though there has been a considerable amount of controversy surrounding this year’s Prom, Lincoln officials still hope that anyone attending either of the dances will be able to enjoy their special evening. Though, they still expressed disappointment in the fact that the Mardi Grad event was being hosted at the same time as Lincoln’s Prom.

“I think it’s too bad. You know I think it’s caused some division among the senior class and I think that there are a lot of kids in Leadership who have worked hard on Prom, and I don’t think it’s unrealistic to ask students to meet basic guidelines like going to class and not getting in trouble. I don’t have much sympathy for that position,” said Hewitson.

“For me…I feel that this was intentionally done purposefully on the same day as our prom at the same time and for essentially the same price…it was done maliciously. It was done out of spite and it was mean,” concurred Ms. Phillips.

“They could’ve had it any other night, any other time, right? But they chose to do it to compete with our event and it’s upsetting because we work really really really hard to put on these events and any money that we make from it, while we want to keep our prices low—and actually our prices for prom are the lowest out of all the high schools in the district—so while we try really really hard to keep our prices low, if we do make any money it goes back to supporting all the things that you guys are involved in. So that’s hard. It’s been a tough couple of weeks. I’ve had so many students coming in here bummed out, I’m bummed out and it’s just all around just horrible.”