The Journal

Issue date: 4/12/07 Section: LifeStyle

Media Credit: Jamie Ford Freshman advertising and marketing communications major Spencer Campbell walks off stage after being bought for $60 by a high bidder during the date auction March 10. The Residential Housing Association held the date auction to raise funds for the American Heart Association.

After a two-month delay, students finally got to put up their hard-earned money for a hard-working man or woman at the Residential Housing Association's Date Auction.


After all, the auction was advertised on Facebook as "the closest thing to legal prostitution."


The auction took place April 10 in the University Center Sunnen Lounge. Emcee for the night, Dee Goines, a junior speech communications major, auctioned off 32 dates, not including himself. Junior Benny Roberts, a sociology major, made the highest bid of the night, $191.75, for his girlfriend, freshman Nadia Battle, a broadcast journalism major. Ironically, Roberts went for the smallest amount of money - one cent. Roberts and Goines said they wanted to show a reverse courtesy for Battle going for the highest bid.


The nearly two-hour auction raised almost $2,300 for the American Heart Association. Last year's auction proceeds of $2,181 also went to the AHA.


A few technical difficulties with sound deterred Goines from using a microphone for half of the performance. This year's show did not include a PowerPoint presentation of each date's personal information as in the past.


Nearly 150 people attended the event, which left standing room only throughout the majority of the show. The room was decorated with white holiday lights lining the runway. Each person who was auctioned off chose a song to strut down the catwalk and up to a large stage in the front of the room.


Junior dance major Janele Moore said she was surprised at the date auction's turnout.


"This is exciting for campus programming in general," said Moore, who works for Campus Activities.


RHA began planning the event in fall 2006. Junior Beth Blumfelder, an art history major, organized RHA's biggest event of the year almost entirely by herself. Due to Blumfelder studying abroad in Vienna, Austria for the second half of the fall semester, RHA had to postpone the auction from its original Feb. 13 date.

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