As a part of the Integrative Core Curriculum, students are encouraged to attend theme-based floor events that are put on by their resident assistant or First-Year Residential Experience representative as a part of the FYRE.

The attendance at these programs last year was sparse. About 40 percent of freshmen — 716 students out of the 1,789 in the Class of 2017 — attended the ICC floor events, which is why the FYRE started a new incentive program for those who attend events this year.

According to Bonnie Prunty, director of residential life and judicial affairs and assistant dean for first-year experiences, students who attend theme-based floor programs will receive a raffle ticket for every program they attend. Students also get an additional raffle ticket if they write a reflection about the event they attended. Their names are then entered into a raffle and at the end of the academic year, and 20 students will receive $2,000 toward their housing for the next year.

If the point of the ICC-themed floor programs is to, “create a more community-based residential experience that can also relate back to students’ classes,” like Prunty said, then these programs should be made mandatory to guarantee attendance.

Coaxing students into attending floor programs with a monetary prize, should be the college’s last resort, because it makes it seem like the program is a failure. This is the second year the college has had ICC-themed floor programs, and should not already have to resort to paying students to go to these events. It is as if the college believes the programs are failing after one year. The incentive, no matter how appealing it sounds, is a form of bribery.