Alternate Spring Fling offered opportunity to 'unwind'

While others were recovering from nights of partying, a group of students gathered in Harrison’s rooftop lounge to participate in a “You Can Only Eat By Getting Fed By Others” brunch on Saturday morning. The brunch, organized as part of Penn’s Alternate Spring Fling, aimed to show participants that they shouldn’t take the food on their plate for granted.

Justin Broglie, an Engineering junior who organized of ASF, added that “by feeding each other, we realize that we’re dependent on each other.”

ASF featured the brunch as well as several other activities such as mandala painting, guided meditation and yoga sessions throughout the weekend. Broglie explained that he organized ASF because he was “trying to create a new tradition about higher values and higher consciousness.” He continued by explaining “My goal is not to cut down old traditions to be different … My goal is to disrupt the current paradigm and show that there are ways we can interact with each other that don’t involve getting drunk and getting belligerent.”

Broglie went on to say that “some people, perhaps from frats and sororities, may feel like we’re dissenting … I don’t care if people don’t like it. It’s nice for people to realize that our values become dysfunctional at Fling.”

ASF was welcomed, however, by the Social Planning and Events Committee, which organizes Spring Fling. Wharton senior Adam Thompson, the president of SPEC, said that SPEC is “thrilled that others are providing alcohol-free programming. Such events are very much in line with SPEC’s mission.”

Sunday’s brunch saw an attendance of about 10. Broglie wrote in an email that several of Sunday’s events were canceled due to “lack of response.” While the turnout “wasn’t the best” for the events that were still held, he wrote that he was “grateful” for those who came.

Many students attending the brunch had participated in traditional Fling activities as well. College sophomore Jillian Rafferty said that though she participates in Spring Fling, attending the brunch allowed her to “mix up the weekend with some people who were just unwinding.”

Susan Kolber, a College junior at the brunch, added that she did not feel she was separating herself from regular Fling activities by attending some ASF events.

Others in attendance, however, had avoided traditional Fling activities altogether. For example, Marissa Dean, a College junior who helped Broglie organize the events, said she had been to all the ASF events because she doesn’t enjoy Spring Fling.

Several events, such as the Mindfulness@Penn event with the Women’s Center, were organized in collaboration with other groups on campus. Broglie emphasized that “the point of ASF wasn’t to knock down everything else, just to provide other ways of having fun and connecting with others, and I wanted to do it very much in the spirit of collaboration.”

Broglie said he saw enthusiasm for ASF, but is unsure whether it will become a tradition. “I was just creating something spontaneous, I threw it together within a week. I don’t care about institutionalizing it.” He noted, however, that “there are a lot of people who want to carry it forward.”

Dean feels that ASF “is something Penn needs.” She added that “ASF is going to grow if we keep it up.”

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