In an email to the student body on Monday, American University Student Government announced its inaugural State of the Union gala. The gala will take place Nov. 17 at 8 p.m. at the Katzen Arts Center.
SG President Chyna Brodie said she planned the gala as an opportunity for students to meet each other, dress up and eat good food.
“There’s going to be speeches from SG regarding what we’ve done and what we plan to do with the rest of the year,” Brodie said. “A lot of sophomores reminded me that they didn’t have a prom. I wanted to see what we can do to have something that would be very reminiscent of that sort of energy.”
The gala will have speeches from Brodie and other members of SG, along with a catered dinner and dancing. A cocktail attire dress code will be enforced and masks are required.
Indoor events are still being regulated by the University due to COVID-19. Capacity limits must be observed for large-scale events. The Katzen lobby, where the gala will be held, has an indoor capacity of 300 people, Brodie said.
“There’s been a lot of restrictions that I feel like students aren’t aware of regarding mass events and the level in which we can do events due to COVID,” Brodie said.
The event will have 250 tickets for students who RSVP on a first-come, first-served basis, with 50 tickets reserved for SG members. The gala is free for students and will be funded through Brodie’s presidential programming fund. According to Brodie, the gala is estimated to cost $3,000. About half of her programming budget will be spent on catering and organizing the gala.
Brodie thinks the gala could be an annual event.
“I ultimately want the impact of the gala to be students feeling more connected with each other and walking away from the event knowing more about AUSG,” she said. “People know about AUSG but they don’t know the people and I would really want to change that.”
