Student Union officials last week finalized plans for their alternative to Modfest: an event during which alcohol will be served to students of age Friday night on the Great Lawn. To curb underage drinking at the upcoming event, "Purple Rain," Assistant Dean of Student Life Alwina Bennett said there will be a "beer garden," separating students drinking alcohol.

"I'm not opposed to parties," Bennett said. "I'd just like them to be safe and well planned-out."

Administrators cancelled Modfest, the popular outdoor campus party, last spring over concerns of excessive underage drinking.

The compromise struck between administrators and the Union highlights the administration's ongoing efforts to limit excessive drinking on campus, and also brings closure to an earlier miscommunication between Bennett and Union officials.

After Union officials announced the event's date last week, Bennett said their anouncement was "premature" because some Student Life officials will be away. But Bennett confirmed Sunday that the Great Lawn was available for Friday's party.

Union President Alison Schwartzbaum '08 said she hopes students will show the administration they can drink responsibly at the party.

"I can't get together with the administration and say, 'We're responsible,' if these transports continue," Schwartzbaum said.

"And we're sick of moratoriums and even time-out corners," she added, referring to Bennett's announcement last week that Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer placed the "Less Your Wear" dance in his time-out corner.

Brian Paternostro '07, the Union's director of communications, downplayed student concerns that the beer garden will be constricting, saying it will be "more like installation art-work."

Cindy Kaplan '08, the Union's director of social affairs, said Purple Rain will be "theatrical and artsy and fun."

"You will walk into it and be like, 'This isn't the Great Lawn, this is Purple Rain,'" Kaplan said.

Kaplan said they named the event "Purple Rain" because it went through an "identity crisis" just like Prince, who wrote a song titled "Purple Rain" and starred in a film of the same name, and was called "The Artist Formerly Known as Prince" for a time when he replaced his stage name with an unpronouncable symbol.

The administration also last week said that it would no longer allow "The Less you Wear, the Less you Pay Dance" to continue as is, based on similar concerns of excessive drinking after three students were transported to the hospital.