Students attend Night at the Pageant for rebranded fall 2023 WILD. (Zoe Oppenheimer | Student Life)

Washington University’s Spring WILD (Walk In, Lay Down) attendance has been capped at 3,000 for undergraduates, following an announcement that it will be held in the Athletic Center’s Fieldhouse.

WashU’s Social Programming Board (SPB) announced that WILD attendance would be capped via email on April 24. Students have reported that lines for wristbands, which are required for attendance, vary wildly in size and are moving slowly for some grades.

For this spring’s WILD, there are 1,000 wristbands reserved for seniors, 1,000 reserved for juniors, 500 reserved for sophomores, and 500 reserved for first-years. Upperclassmen were given more wristbands with the hopes that they would have a better chance of attending the event. Juniors reported short lines due to the number of their peers studying abroad, while the lines for first-years and sophomores were significantly longer. 

“After conversations with our campus partners, the capacity for the venue is a maximum of 3,000 students,” SPB’s email says. “This is a considerably lower number of attendees than we plan for when WILD is held outdoors. In order to ensure the safety of the event given the size of the venue, we need to closely regulate attendance.”

SPB Concerts Director, Ruby Cover, said in a separate interview with Student Life that the capacity change was not a decision that came from SPB.

Students will also be required to get a wristband before WILD, while in previous years, wristbands were given out at the door. Seniors can pick up their wristbands in McMillan Cafe, juniors in the Fun Room inside the Danforth University Center (DUC), sophomores in Millstone Lounge within the DUC, and first-years on Mudd Field. Pickup took place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesday and will be the same on Thursday.

In a previous email sent to the student body on April 17, Cover wrote that WILD will happen regardless of weather, except in the case of thunderstorms.

“WILD is a rain or shine event providing there is no danger from thunder/lightning or larger weather events,” the email reads. 

Sophomore Christine Jung said she views potential equity issues with the wristband distribution and was frustrated with how it’s being handled.

“I’m really pissed. If you have a Sam Fox class or a studio, it’s basically impossible to get a wristband,” Jung said. “You’d have to go all the way across campus at 10 a.m. and miss class.”

Some students, such as senior Yuliana Hernandez Gonzalez, had to skip class to get a wristband before they ran out. She was also displeased with the event being capped. 

“It’s definitely disappointing given that it’s our last year, but I’m happy that they’re at least trying to keep the event going,” Gonzalez said. “I felt a little bit stressed to come here in the morning.”

Along with the number of undergraduate students being capped, graduate students will no longer be allowed to attend WILD despite SPB previously announcing that 500 would be able to attend. Historically, graduate students have not been able to attend WILD.

Night at the Pageant (NAP), SPB’s rebranded WILD in fall of 2023, had a cap of 2,000 undergraduate students with 500 spots reserved for seniors, and tickets were distributed on a lottery basis. Spring WILD of 2023, held on Mudd Field and headlined by rapper Flo Milli, did not have a cap on undergraduates. 

When asked if SPB would be able to use infrastructure developed in planning a similar indoor event like NAP to indoor WILD, Cover said they would not be able to.

“The Pageant is prepared to hold concerts, and we started planning for NAP over the summer,” Cover said. “We started planning for WILD in late October. That means our planning timeframe went from six months to three and a half days. Critical thinking skills and a dream are what we’re applying to planning indoor WILD.”

SPB announced on Monday, April 23 that rapper Joey Bada$$ would headline the event, with doors opening at 6 p.m. on Friday, April 26. The opening acts include WashU student band Non-Euclidean Geometry, singer Iyaz, and pop rock band THEM.

Senior Sylvie Raymond said she was frustrated that the school tradition was regularly being altered.

“We don’t have a lot of traditions as a school,” Raymond said. “I mostly feel bad for the freshmen and sophomores, though. I feel they’re more jazzed up about WILD.”

On April 24, Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Anna “Dr. G” Gonzalez announced via email that undergraduate students would have the option to go to a “Party on the 40” held on the South 40 at the same time as WILD. The party will be open to all WashU students with ID and will feature food, 200 free shirts, and a silent disco.

Senior Spencer Kates, who plays guitar for Non-Euclidean Geometry, said that the band is unsure what the event will look like.

“We are still super excited to play,” Kates said. “We’ve got some new music we’re debuting at this show, so we’re just happy we still have this opportunity. We don’t really know what the event is gonna look like yet, but SPB has let us know they’re working hard on adjusting the plans for the event inside.”

In light of security concerns at other college campuses nationally due to protests stemming from the Israel-Hamas conflict, Student Life emailed Gonzalez, asking whether the current campus climate in regard to recent protests shaped her decision at all. Gonzalez sent the initial email informing students that the event would be held indoors. 

“The letter I sent outlines the reasons why WILD was moved indoors. It really was a tough decision for us to make,” Gonzalez said in her email to Student Life. “Our goal is to make sure that you are all safe while having fun.”

When asked about logistical elements of WILD, such as vendors, Cover said SPB is grateful for their support. 

“It’s a logistical nightmare, but thankfully, we have an incredible campus life advisor and super amenable campus partners who are working to ensure this event happens,” Cover said. “Vendors have also been super flexible and understanding.”

She also said that it has been difficult for SPB to see negative feedback from the student body given that they had no power over the decision. 

“I feel a little hurt that I can’t say the same about the student body,” Cover said. “We see things on Sidechat, and it’s hard not to internalize that. So many of the elements that students are upset about, such as contract timeline, weather, and capacity, are completely out of SPB’s control. A bit of grace would be appreciated from students.”

On April 24, Student Life reached out to Emergency Management for comment on the 3,000-person cap and received no comment by the time of publication.