Mid-Night Madness has been around since 2000, when it was first held on Monday nights (Monday Night Madness) to help promote responsible drinking at Baldwin Wallace. Since then, it has evolved into a Thursday night program, with events like the Block Party, Midnight Breakfast and The Price is Right. However, with recent budget cuts and dwindling participation, what can the student body expect in the coming years?
Robert Hood, a BW junior and the MNM student director, is optimistic about the future.
“We’re hoping to overcome our budget cuts. We obviously want to put on the best program we can, but we’re highly dependent on our fundraising efforts now,” Hood said.
So far, these efforts have been successful; multiple dine to donate programs, Sheetz coupon books and a cornhole tournament on March 24 are among the many ways the organization has worked to keep the programs financed.
“We’re hoping no one will see the effect of the budget cuts. Fundraising efforts have gotten us this far,” Amanda Groves, the graduate intern for MNM, said.
However, small changes were necessary to adjust to the new budget.
“We aren’t getting lazy. I know a lot of students have mentioned in evaluation forms that events would be better if they had more food, or bigger prizes. We just can’t be that extravagant anymore, and have had to downscale,” Groves said. “We’re still working to put on the best programs we can.”
Each week, events are evaluated so improvements can be made and the organization can try to build the best programs possible.
“We’re constantly trying to reevaluate our programming to make sure it’s meeting our mission,” Hood said. “Obviously all MNM events are nonalcoholic, but we strive to make it social or recreational so students can be interactive with each other.”
“We’ve seen dwindling numbers of participation; our average is 100-200, but in past years it has been an upward of 200-300. The most important [thing] is for people to come out and support us to keep MNM going,” Hood said. “If they do go to our events hopefully they’ll realize how important our fundraising efforts are.”
Events are held on Thursday nights at 10:30 p.m. A schedule of MNM’s spring programs and applications to be on the MNM staff can be found at http://www.bw.edu/stulife/care/mnm.