Red Flag; PUrple Curtains: an Insider’s Look into SSE’s Most Elusive Committee
Sometimes, all one needs is a little ravin’ on the dancefloor. With the first period’s exam week behind us, and another one just around the corner, SSE’s students’ need for a blast-of-a-party grows with each paper to read and each project to finish. Thankfully, there is a certain group of red-hooded individuals that takes care of this urgent demand. They, who cleaned up puke and alcohol stains after Rotunda nights, while tirelessly refilling water cups that prevented hangovers for hundreds of students. They, who supply us with the very hangover-inducing alcohol that often ends up on floors rather than in stomachs. They, who recently celebrated a once-in-a-lifetime centennial milestone, brimming with parties, surprises and… secrets?
Established in 1921, the main purpose of the Entertainment Committee (PU) has been to arrange Stockholm School of Economics’ most traditional festivities, such as last month’s Gasque, the Anniversary Feast and the Summer Party. As the most traditional committee in all of SASSE, PU may come across as a glazed up version of the stereotypical American fraternity, characterized by a selective recruitment process for their honored and seemingly familial members. With an acceptance rate of 7.6% following the 2022 fall recruitment process, the Entertainment Committee stands out as one of the most exclusive committees in SASSE.
But, alas, that which glitters is not always gold. With 144 eager students applying to PU during recruitment, only three of them were international students. Out of those three - you guessed it - none were accepted. The Entertainment Committee thus holds the lowest level of internationality out of all SASSE committees, in terms of both applicants (2%) and successful candidates (0%). Even the second to lowest result in this study, held by the Social Committee, still boasts a level of international applicants 550% higher than PU. Furthermore, the committee’s potential issues may cover more than just the disappointing outcome of this year’s fall recruitment. Various evidence, dating back decades, suggests that PU might have a tendency to allocate their budget on matters not directly linked to either SASSE festivities, improving camaraderie or upholding the cherished values of SSE. As reported by DN, a “scandalous party” brought before the disciplinary committee in 1996, seemingly involving strippers, supports the notion of PU’s reckless and scandalous behavior on a historical level. A lesson learned, perhaps? To this day, however, PU suffers from less-than-ideal perceptions from other students: following interviews with several randomly selected students in the atrium, we found that PU is largely viewed to be a group of blond(e), wealthy and status-driven Swedes. But just how true are these perceptions and what measures has PU taken to rid itself of these stereotypes?
We would directly defy Handels’ FREE initiative if we were pointing fingers at PU without any aim to listen to their side as well. Therefore, it was inevitable to reach out to Gustaf Tamm, the President of the Committee. Luckily he accepted the opportunity and we seized the moment by arranging an interview right away, which we are more than eager to share.
As the online meeting loads, my heart along with my partner’s drum to the rhythm of “Ameno”, with us striving to gather the courage to interview Gustaf, whom we wanted to ask about his thoughts and experiences of PU. The cheerful colors of our walls helplessly darkened into the pitch-black shade of the infamous PU room as he arrived:
As one of us does not speak Swedish fluently and the other is not from a White ethnic background, together, we perfectly represent the groups which are believed to be excluded from PU. To our surprise, Gustaf started the conversation in English and did not show particular discomfort at speaking a language other than the one stubborn to his committee. Thus, the interview had begun (the transcript below has been adjusted to better fit written text, no content has been lost):
Interviewer: Gustaf, could you list the greatest party hits and activities which PU has ever done?
Gustaf: Well, I would first point out the last Summer Party, which in my opinion was a banger. Hundreds of people, more floors open, an absolute success. Another event which also happened during my membership in PU is the phenomenal Gröna Lund party, it is a pity that they ran out of alcohol very soon and needed to close shop. It is hard to think of historical parties, but let me ask my girlfriend, Anna, who is just in the other room and also a part of the crew. Anna, can you think of anything?
*Here, Anna briefly joins us for the interview.*
Anna: The parties where there were huge changes made in decorations sound awesome. There was a time when the whole Rotunda was filled with foam. It did cause a little headache afterwards with the cleaning, but was totally worth it, while another time it was filled with sand for a Summer Party. Once, for the Christmas Party, there were spruce trees bought and later on hung up on the ceiling upside down, giving a dizzy Christmas vibe.
Gustaf: I can also add some parts which are not specifically fun parties, but fun stuff which the group did. Actually, a long time ago, some members of PU published that they would sell alcohol on the weekends while Systembolaget is closed. Obviously it was just as much of a bad, as a fun idea, because the police came, even though it is intuitive that we did not in fact plan on selling alcohol. No bootlegging on SASSE premises.
*We were later told by Gustaf that such pranks had occurred on other occasions, with dozens of people lining up along Sveavägen to have a taste of PU’s liquor, a feat they never managed to achieve.*
Interviewer: What was the specific reason you applied to PU in the first place?
*In a joking manner, Gustaf suggests that his girlfriend should leave the room. After this happens, however, he does not say what we expected: gorgeous PU girls.*
Gustaf: Well, I had some friends already as members in the committee and they said it is a whole lot of fun and I did nothing but believe it. They turned out to be right. It is tons of fun.
Interviewer: There are a lot of our fellow students applying to your committee for the same or other reasons. What do you look for in a potential candidate?
Gustaf: We are looking for the best applicants. We are looking for fun people and people who are not afraid of getting their hands dirty. Being in the committee requires a lot of work actually, as we have a lot of cleaning to go through. Therefore, it is essential that our crew members can live up to our expectations regarding that.
Interviewer: I totally get that. How is the selection process then? How is it different from other committees?
Gustaf: [Other committees] have actual interviews with cases and stuff like that. We don’t. We have interviews where you need to go through some funny quests so we make sure you fit into PU. After that, there is PU prao where we make sure that our pre-selected candidates are actually hardworking.
Interviewer: We have, however, heard that the interviews were regarded as humiliating by some members. There were ones who felt uncomfortable going through them. Can you reply to these rumors, what is actually happening during the interviews?
Gustaf: First of all, we do not try to make anyone feel bad. We also have relatively the same interview for everyone, so it is never to humiliate someone specifically, but only to see if they could fit our laid-back atmosphere. We have these as an intake quest and again, we do not want to hurt or humiliate anyone with these tasks.
Interviewer: I understand. I absolutely love partying and, after all, the philosophical core of a party is to let things go and not care about them. So it makes sense you test the ability of not giving any… When we went through the data provided by SASSE, we saw that you have no internationals and on pictures it is also quite obvious that your group is ethnically homogenous. However, the numbers for applicants is also almost zero from internationals, besides no one getting accepted. Why do you think internationals don’t apply in the first place?
Gustaf: When I did Global Challenges II, we did this task where we talked about what we are gonna contribute to the world with. We were having these conversations and somehow it came up that I was part of PU. People were shocked and didn’t believe it, as they thought I was too nice to be a PU member and that the members were bad guys, not taking anyone into consideration. I was appalled and I wanted to change that. People believe that we are not good people and that we dislike diversity, so it kind of became this self-reinforcing vicious circle of people self-selecting themselves. But I make efforts to change that, as I truly believe the stereotypes are untrue. This tendency is really not good, after all we need to provide fun for the whole of SASSE and not for the committee. That’s our task.
Interviewer: I understand. Could you name what measures, if any, you have taken to change this self-selection phenomenon and diversity problem?
Gustaf: I honestly find it helpful that the change starts on a leadership level as well. Therefore, I was one of the few people who initiated a higher level of socializing and collaboration between the boards.
Interviewer: I heard about this event, Battle of the Boards, was it your idea?
Gustaf: Not only mine, but I was among those who came up with it.
Interviewer: What else could you name as a measure?
Gustaf: There are some smaller symbolic measures taken. One of these is that PU members come forward from behind the bar. This way people get to know us and see that we want to hang out with everyone in SASSE. About other measures in the recruitment process. The thing is, we need to be cryptic and traditional, it is one of the funnest parts of the committee. However on a SASSE level there have been a lot of organizational efforts made to create a more inclusive and diverse association. We set up KPIs and go through those diversity reports you also read.
Interviewer: I really hope these efforts work out well and I also believe that these tendencies need a great amount of time to change. Let’s finish the interview with a message. What would you tell those SASSE members who do not identify with the stereotypical PU member, say, internationals, minorities or those coming from a different socioeconomic background?
Gustaf: Apply! I know it is sometimes scary to walk in through the black metal door, candles lit and all that. Not to mention the unconventional interview, but these things are for fun and not to discourage anyone. We want the best applicants, but all types of applicants. Again, apply! We would like to see a broader range of applicants and create a more diverse PU.
It seems that the 100th anniversary of PU may be the start of a new era, distinguished by openness and diversity at SSE’s most traditional committee. Yet, it may just as well not be. In one way, it essentially comes down to whether the foundation on which the Entertainment Committee is built, namely the school itself, is willing to change. After all, PU would never have come into existence if it weren’t for a couple of party-crazy SSE students back in 1921. The fundamental correlation between SSE and PU was highlighted in interviews with randomly selected students at SSE, confirming that the perceptions of and stereotypes about the two organizations are largely aligned. Interviewed students unanimously answered that the “typical” SSE student is also blonde, Swedish and preferably lives in either Djursholm, Lidingö or central Stockholm. A particular BSc student described a negative aspect of SSE as being “cult-like”, much like the general attitude towards PU, while other key words such as elitism, homogeneity and even nepotism were formed between the lines.
Even though SSE is neither a cult nor an active advocate for nepotism, there may be a grain of truth in the passionate opinions of some of the respondents. Without low acceptance rates and its privatization, for instance, SSE would likely not have been the thriving elite business school that it is today. Despite this, it is precisely the word “elite” that may have contributed to the ambience of alienation that some students have experienced here, and it may also very well have been the word “elite” that has laid the foundation to what its most traditional committee is currently perceived to stand for: exclusivity, homogeneity and ambition. We are convinced that the cultivation of tradition is one of the most precious trademarks of this 113 year old institution, setting it apart from others in the Nordics. Simply put, perhaps the best kind of change starts not at the level of the committee, but at the level of the institution. It starts with us looking ourselves in the mirror and growing a little more humble by it, rather than lashing out at others within the very same system that bred us all.
References:
“Herrmiddag Spårade Ur: Strippor Förbjuds På Handels. Skandalfesten Kan Tas Upp I Disciplinnämnden Enligt Rektor Claes-Robert Julander.” Dagens Nyheter, December 19, 1996. https://www.dn.se/arkiv/stockholm/herrmiddag-sparade-ur-strippor-forbjuds-pa-handels-skandalfesten-kan-tas-upp-i-disciplinnamnden/.