It's the most anticipated event of our time. It has spawned everything from apocalyptic movies to album titles for boy bands, songs to specialty t-shirts, fears of computer crashes to fears of misguided theme parties, yet it will be over within the blink of an eye. Forget the fact that the next century technically doesn't start until 2001. Scarcely before the cries of "Happy New Year" faded away Jan. 1, 1999, all thoughts turned toward the newer, bigger event at hand: the dawn of the new millennium.
So come Dec. 31, will everybody really be partying till dawn? Certainly modern culture has enticed us with the notion that such revelry is essential for ushering in the new millennium.
University administrators, faculty members and students alike have shared their plans for the New Year of all New
Year's. From soaking in balmy island breezes to braving the crowds in Times Square to celebrating with just a few close friends, the University community represents a cross section of millennium madness to millennium minimalism.
Those brave enough to withstand the crowds, the cold and the chaos will be celebrating the millennium in a way that epitomizes the New Year's tradition: watching the ball drop in Times Square. Areshini Pather, president of the University's chapter of the National Organization for Women, is among those willing to "go to Times Square with the rest of humanity" because in her hometown of Boston, "New Year's Eve is usually kind of boring."
Others, such as Steve Silverstein, first-year College student and Oceanside, N. Y. native, conceded that New York City on the dawn of the millennium could be a less than desirable location.
"New Yorkers never admit to being scared of anything," Silverstein said, "but I'm scared of Times Square on New Year's Eve."
He plans to stay local in Long Island for New Year's since "everything in the city is going to be packed."
Black Fraternal Council Co-Chairwoman Natanya Mitchell, a Brooklyn native, noted that because of her New York heritage, the Times Square scene is "not too exciting" anymore. She will, however, brave the crowds and head to the city for her revelry.
"Tentatively, our plan has been that several friends will get together and be at a central location, probably a club," Mitchell said.
While those who choose to celebrate in the Northeast bundle up to boogie down, others will be donning significantly less attire in places such as sunny Florida and tropical Aruba. Student Council President and Tampa, Fla., native Taz Turner plans to "go watch the Bowl Game and stay down in Ft. Lauderdale." As for his exact location when the millennial moment arrives, Turner admitted, "I have no idea where I'm going to be."
Inter-Sorority Council President Margaret Dumas also said she hopes to be among the University fans present at the Micronpc.com Bowl Dec. 30, spending New Year's in Miami "probably with a bunch of friends in a low-profile setting."
First-year College student Kate Rhoades said she plans on heading even farther south to the Caribbean paradise of Aruba. Despite clamors of possible Y2K chaos surrounding the impending new year, the Rhoades family will depart for the island Dec. 31.
"It's a tradition," Rhoades said. "Instead of getting presents for Christmas, we go somewhere."
She said she hopes that at the millennium's dawn, she will be "out with my family enjoying the nightlife of Aruba."
Then, of course, there are those who prefer to usher in the millennium in a lower-key setting. Hunter Ferguson, fourth-year College student and Honor Committee chairman, is still undecided as to what his evening holds, but said it "will be far away from any kind of crowd, that's for sure."
Dean of Students Penny Rue said she will head to Washington, D.C. to get together with a group of old friends from graduate school.
"We're going to have sort of a good-old-times reunion and I'm looking forward to it a lot," Rue said.
She said, however, that the concept of the millennium is not of great importance to her.
"To me, it's just another New Year's," she added. "I think of the calendar as pretty artificial."
Some University community members carry Rue's attitude of millennial nonchalance to an even greater degree.
Larry J. Sabato, government and foreign affairs professor, said the impending millennium is just "the manner in which human beings count time and I really am not impressed at all."
Additionally, Sabato suggested that perhaps the new millennium actually "happened four or five years ago" because of an error in the calculation of Jesus' birth by a Catholic cardinal during the Middle Ages.
In any case, he insisted that "the 'new millennium' is one of the dumbest things I've seen come around." In addition to being "just another money-making scheme," millennium madness is
"nothing new, it's nothing exciting, and I don't pay attention to it."
Not surprisingly, Sabato has "no special plans and not even any ordinary plans" for Dec. 31.
Then, of course, there is another aspect of the millennium: the belief that the year 2000 could possibly bring about the Armageddon. In his class "American Millennialism," English Prof. Stephen Railton urged his students to express their views of this subject in their writing.
Fourth-year College student Janey Adams wrote, "Obviously, I hope I won't see Armageddon at least until I reach a ripe old age. Still, the possibility that midnight January 1, 2000 will be doomsday would mean that it won't be just another boring New Year's Eve watching Dick Clark's ball drop. It offers the prospect that, for a change, something interesting might happen. Of course, I'm fairly certain that this New Year's Eve will be just as anti-climactic as all the ones before."
Indeed, Railton himself anticipates only minor inconveniences come 2000.
"I expect computers will fail and I won't be in an elevator or airplane," he said, while at the same time expressing his doubt that 2000 will usher in the apocalypse. Still, as the ball drops to signal the millennium, Railton confessed, "I probably won't even be awake."
For those in the University community who do plan on celebrating the millennium, whether it is spent packed among millions of revelers in Times Square, sipping a frozen drink in a tropical paradise, or at the house of a close friend, the millennium holds one undeniable truth: It's still an excuse to party like it's 2000.
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