On Friday the 10th at approximately 8:30 P.M, Williston’s highly-anticipated post-Convocation dance met a quick and untimely end.

The dance was set to take place under a tent on quad in front of Reed, and was Williston’s first dance in more than 2 years.  The dance was broken up around 30 minutes into the festivities and was not formally reassembled after.

Christopher Dietrich, Dean of Enrollment Management, was on duty the night of the dance, and said both the police and Williston security had a roll in the shut down.

“Somewhere between 8:00 and 8:30, the police arrived on the quad, having received one call about noise, but then also having received a 911 call from a cell phone, that we soon identified as an accidental call from one of the students at the dance,” Dietrich said in an email.

“They told me that they would not force us to shut the dance down completely, but they did ask that we make adjustments before they left, largely around the significant number of people under the tent and their proximity to each other, as well as the mask wearing (which was fairly minimal when they first arrived),” he added.

This is consistent with Easthampton Police records emailed to The Willistonian on Sept. 20 by Officer Chad Alexander.

Despite the untimely end of the event, Dietrich said he was pleased to see so many kids enjoying themselves in the company of one another, something that hasn’t been possible in a long time.

“Overall, although it was sad that some people left when we first turned the music off, it seemed that many folks stayed on the quad until 10 when the DJs finished up,” Dietrich said. “Personally, I was ultimately very happy to see Williston students enjoying themselves together as a group again, and I am glad that we were able to pivot and keep the dance going, albeit in a different fashion.”

Even with the chaos of the night and the uncertainty at the time surrounding what exactly happened. Williston students still enjoyed the event.

“The night was super fun, I loved being around our whole class for like the first time since last year,” senior Ella Mattocks said.