Clubs host dance for Pitt students

For more than 200 students, Friday night included a mix of nightclub lighting, blaring music… For more than 200 students, Friday night included a mix of nightclub lighting, blaring music and games. But instead of ping pong balls in a dirty Oakland basement, these party-goers faced flying dodgeballs.

The Pitt Four Square Club and Pitt’s 92.1 WPTS teamed up to host a dance party in the William Pitt Union Assembly Room.

“Four Square is the greatest club on campus,” sophomore Phil Thomas yelled over the sounds of a Justin Timberlake song on the speakers, waiting in line for his turn in a game of four square. “This party is awesome,” he added, throwing his hands over his head.

Across the room at the refreshments table, students mingled, ate and danced. Junior Matthew Plowey, a WPTS staff member, said he came to support the station.

“And of course there’s free pizza so you know,” he said, motioning to a dozen pizzas on the table behind him.

Ashley Boone, WPTS promotions director, said the goal of the event was to bring together two different organizations for a night of fun.

“There’s not enough cross-group communication,” Boone said. “It’s needed.”

She said she hoped this event would set an example for other groups to work together, especially smaller ones without big budgets.

While combining the groups and trying to appeal to different musical tastes, WPTS’ DJ Carazmatic and DJ Tanner played everything from indie and rock to hip hop and electronic music.

A Beastie Boys song changed to an Outkast jam as the number of people on the dance floor doubled around 9 p.m., while dancing was only secondary to some four square enthusiasts who crowded around squares of blue tape on the carpet.

“I love it because it makes me feel like I’m five years old again,” freshman Amanda Varner said about the game.

She is a member of the Four Square Club, which has more than 600 members, and said joining has helped her meet new people.

Before enjoying the simple game and dancing, though, each student had to go through a metal detector and have their bag checked by a Pitt Police officer.

Most students weren’t bothered by the procedure, and according to Boone and Officer Curtis Smith, the metal detector was a new element for a WPTS dance.

Smith, part of the Pitt Police Department for more than 20 years, said Pitt has had security measures at dances and social events long before Duquesne’s recent school dance shooting.

While explaining Pitt’s event security, he looked at the contents of students’ pockets as they placed them in a bowl, and asked one student to check in his pocket knife key chain at the Union’s front desk before entering.

Smith said different groups’ events have different levels of security.

“Crime doesn’t work that way,” Smith said. “Policies should be consistent.”

As the dance was in full swing around 10 p.m., another dance in the Union’s Kurtzman Room was without a police officer or metal detector.

House Manager Lisa Sileo said she has worked at the Union for six years and the policy has always been that all dances have metal detectors. She said when groups classify their event as a “social event” instead of a “dance” in paperwork filed with the Union, arrangements are not made for a metal detector.

Sileo attributes this confusion over event classification as the reason for lack of police patrolling at the other dance held that night, the Rainbow Alliance Diversity Formal.

“[Dances are] opened and advertised to the community so it’s not just our kids,” Sileo said about the difference in classifying social events and dances. “We’re just trying to keep our kids safe.”

Four Square Club President Justin Keogh said he was happy it was a safe event. He added there was a good turnout of people from outside of the two host groups, and the party went past its intended three hours.

“I’d say the event was a huge success, by many measuring sticks,” Keogh said.