Students’ Association freshman class officers will provide free admission to Freshman Formal. The formal will be at 8 p.m. Friday near the GATA Fountain.

This is a departure from previous years when the Freshman Action Council hosted the event in the Hunter Welcome Center and cost $20 per ticket. FAC was discontinued in the fall.

With the theme “Deep in the Heart of Texas,” the formal will feature mini pies, Texas Tea and a DJ.  Shelby Short, freshmen class president, planned the event with help from Abbey Moses, SA executive president, Tom Craig, director of student activities and productions, and Alyssa Ellison, student activities coordinator.

Short said she wanted the event to be free this year, but T-shirts will be available for $15.

“I don’t think it’s fair to tell someone if they couldn’t afford it that they can’t come,” Short said, “so formal is free.”

The event is funded through SA class allocations. The event was supposed to be in the Teague Special Events Center, but it was already booked for Friday night so they moved the event to the GATA Fountain and mall area. Short said she also booked a gym in the Student Recreation and Wellness Center in case of bad weather.

For the last three years, Freshman Formal was organized by the Freshman Action Council, a group of 28-30 freshmen supervised by Caddie Coupe, director of student and parent activities. The Office of Student Life ended FAC in the fall and gave the organization of formal to the SA class officers, though Jonathan Ladd, freshmen class vice president, said he was not involved in organizing the event.

“We felt like eliminating Freshman Action Council would give the space for SA representatives to really take charge,” Coupe said.

Coupe said she still provided support and mentorship for Short throughout the year.

“To be honest, I don’t know anything about Freshman Formal because I’ve not been involved in that process,” Coupe said. “I gave her a lot of suggestions at the beginning of the semester to make sure that we started early, because planning events takes place months in advance, but she has been working with Abe and Abbey to do Freshman Formal.”