Late Knights events give UCF students a late-night, alcohol-free alternative

Students got a safe taste of the ‘90s on Friday at SGA's first Late Knights event of the year.

"Instead of going out to a party or a bar, students can come here," said Kacie Zavada, the student director of Late Knights. "It's a safe environment — no alcohol — so they don't feel pressured. They can just have fun staying around campus and hanging out with other students."

The alcohol-alternative event was held at Lake Claire from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. An estimated 1,500 students came out to relax and enjoy their Friday night.

Late Knights was created to provide students with a fun way to spend an evening without drinking and that still remains its primary purpose now. The event carried overtones of cleanliness. The DJ even voiced-over the chorus to a Snoop Dogg song, changing "gin and juice" to "apple juice."

Late Knights is entering its sixth year as a regular activity. In 2003, SGA began putting on one of the events each month during the academic year. Two years ago, Late Knights added an extra night during July for Summer B students.

Although Late Knights is marketed toward all UCF students, its main audience is freshmen.

All freshmen attending got a head start on racking up LINK Loot for the fall semester.

Swiping their ID card gave them 500 points toward items in December's auction.

Friday's event included some new entertainment. Students had the opportunity to ride on two new Segway i2 scooters, climb an inflatable rock wall and team up to play five-on-five human foosball.

Plenty of souvenirs were available from the night to students. There were stations set up where students could get custom pillowcases, shutter shades and metal road signs made for them.

Although students enjoyed the event, there were a number of common criticisms.

The greatest among these were the lines.

The three craft stations each had lines more than 60 people long for most of the night and some of the other attractions were not that far behind.

"We shouldn't have to wait this long for one thing," said Zack Moye, a senior micro and molecular biology major. "They could have planned this much better."

But lines have always been an inevitable problem, Zavada said.

"We know that there are certain things that are a lot more popular," she said. "Essentially, students have to decide what they do and don't want to do. They're going to be long, but that's all part of our event."

Other students were concerned with parking.

The Lake Claire parking lot filled up quickly and the Lake Claire apartment lots were blocked off, which forced some students to park in Garage D.

The garage tickets any cars parked inside after midnight, so some students were forced to leave during the middle of the event.

Each Late Knights event costs about $15,000 to put on, and entertains between 1,500 and 2,000 students.

Some of this money comes from the university as payment for being an alcohol-alternative event.

The rest, including the money for food, is provided by SGA. The costs are divided into entertainment, food, advertising and promotional materials, with entertainment and food being the two largest categories.

The program's budget for the year is a little more than $150,000. With the recent controversies over funding and budget cuts, some students were concerned over how much is spent on Late Knights.

"Late Knights is great, but $15,000 sounds a bit pricey, especially for having to wait so long for everything and having them run out of crafts," said Denise Taylor, a freshman music education major.