Following low attendance at events organized and/or sponsored by Whitman College as well as rising tuition costs, the school chose to dissolve their Public Events Office (also briefly known as the Campus Events Office, in another effort to lower costs to the college) in 1996. The student-run Campus Activities Board (or CAB, today known as the Whitman College Events Board) was formed the same year as an extension of the defunct office, inspired by other student events boards at liberal arts colleges across the western United States. The board organizes events around campus and seeks to act as an intermediary between student organizations and the college, helping to plan, organize, and fund events proposed by student groups.