NIU students will sell themselves for charity at 8 p.m. Sept. 28 in Grant Tower A-B Formal Room.

At the recommendation of Grant Tower A Hall Director, Corban Sanchez, all proceeds from the Grant Hall date auction will go to the Hurricane Katrina benefit fund.

With bids starting at $1, students can vie for a chance to date one of the contestants participating in the auction, said Paisley Fort, one of the community advisors coordinating the event. Students with winning bids will go on a chaperoned date Oct. 5 sponsored by the residence halls. The date will begin with a steak, mashed potatoes, salad, corn and dessert dinner and will last an hour. After that, it is up to the two participants whether they would like to continue the date elsewhere, Fort said.

Douglas Hall also sponsored a date auction last fall and a Valentine’s Day date auction, said Nitin Goil, Douglas Hall Director and previous date auction supervisor.

“There’s a lot of planning involved with this date auction,” Fort said. “Contestants will have to sign forms that state the policies of the date auction; what they can and cannot do.”

Raynaldo Hernandez, the other community adviser coordinating the event, said sexual orientation will not be discriminated against.

Hernandez said he hopes this year’s Date Auction will raise a lot of money and remembers hearing people have bid $60 or $70 at past date auctions. Fort also has high hopes for the auction, noting past auctions have had very enthusiastic participants.

Angela Zentefis, a junior business management major, helped coordinate Douglas Hall’s date auction last fall, where the highest bid was $50. Her most memorable auction took place at Douglas, where she was bought by her then-friend and now boyfriend for $45, she said.

Though Sanchez said she hopes the auction will help unite Grant A and B Towers and expects most participants to be from Grant Hall, all NIU students are invited to attend.

Fort is looking through contestant applications and directs students interested in being a contestant to contact her at 753-4598.