By Bobby Klucevsek
It isn’t often that one can pay for a date and still keep your dignity. Then again, it isn’t often that being tucked into bed comes with a $10 price tag. Luckily, these transactions were perfectly acceptable Thursday night at the first annual Promise Auction, presented by the Sigma Sigma Sigma and Delta Phi Epsilon sororities in the West Addition of the Curry Student Center. “Promisers” auctioned off various favors and pledges to benefit the Red Cross on Columbus Avenue.
Krystal Beaulieu, recruitment director of Sigma Sigma Sigma and organizer of the auction and a sophomore political science major, said the sororities came up with the idea together.
“[Delta Phi Epsilon] came to us and wanted to do something for the Red Cross and we decided to do a promise auction,” Beaulieu said.
Joining the auction were six other sororities and fraternities, and all eight organizations had members serving as “promisers.” Although all students were allowed to come and bid, most bidding was done by members of Greek organizations.
Date auctions are a common fund-raiser, but promise auctions put a twist on the idea. Instead of just auctioning off a date, promisers can choose to auction off an IOU of their choosing, Beaulieu explained.
“It’s fun. It’s not the same pressure as in a date auction. People don’t have to auction off themselves, they can think of something else,” Beaulieu said.
And they did. Promisers offered everything from desserts to drinks. However, dates were still promised by some, like Jeff Brazer, a sophomore finance major who auctioned himself off for a night at the movies with not one, but two girls.
The most common promise of the night was cooking. Promisers auctioned off meals for different numbers of people, ranging from one to seven. The final bids didn’t always stay proportionate with the cost of the promises though. While freshman criminology and corrections major Beth Levi’s dinner for one sold for $12, Frank Giampa, a senior mechanical engineering technology major, and Patrick Murphy, a freshman psychology major, are now obligated to make breakfast for an entire sorority apartment for a bid of only $6.
Lower bids meant promisers had to really sell their services. When middler communications major Shawn Wolfgang’s promise to cook someone dinner wasn’t getting any bids over $5, he provided some incentive.
“The higher the bid, the better the meal,” he assured the audience. His persuasion only raised the final bid to $6, however. Other incentives for raising the bids included a meal added to a Natick Mall shopping trip and chefs working only in aprons while making a dinner for four.
Jay Zahn, a junior marketing major who was auctioning an hour training session at Marino, had his own technique. After taking off his shirt, he told the audience, “the bidding starts at six, for my six pack … Double it ’cause you got the ‘bis,'” he added while flexing his biceps. Still, he had to settle for a final bid of $6.
The bidders and promisers all said they felt the event was successful. Freshman music major Dana Brown auctioned off a date basket for $15. She said she didn’t think the basket went for a very good price, but that she didn’t mind because it was “for a good cause.”
Ari Seitelman said he felt his money was well spent.
“I got a trip out with amazing women from Sigma and I got breakfast from two beautiful women. It’s the deal of a lifetime,” the middler computer science major said of his two winning bids.
The auction earned a total of $900, with Sigma Phi Epsilon leading the way with $171 in bids.
