Fusion music fills Wilson Commons

On Saturday, January 17, the Fusion dance party was held in Wilson Commons. Fusion featured three different rooms with their own music styles and a bar available to anyone over 21. By all accounts, it was a success. Fusion was co-sponsored by ADITI, Sigma Beta Rho, the Black Student’s Union, the Chinese Student’s Association, D-Motions, the Korean-American Student’s Association and the Spanish and Latino Student’s Association. Ajay Kuriyan of ADITI and ??? and Emily Hickey of the Junior Class Council both took leadership roles. Three rooms of Wilson Commons were used as dance floors. One had hip-hop or reggae music, one had salsa music, and one had international music. Joyce Akwaa, a junior in BSU, thought that Fusion went very well. “It was a pretty good success,” she said. “A lot of people showed, from other schools as well as ours.” Akwaa also saw it as an example of successful cooperation throughout the college community and several ethnic groups. “It was more or less about coming together, about bringing together a party everyone could enjoy.” Jody Asbury, Dean of Students, agreed. “We think it was great because it got the groups sharing the responsibility and carrying the weight of a large project like this.” Laura Ballou, Assistant Director of Student Activity Programs, also thought that the collaborative nature of the party was special. “Just in me saying all those co-sponsors I think that shows how great it was that it was a collaborative event that brought together a lot of groups from all over campus,” Ballou said. With its open bar, the dance party was also a success for Aramark. “It was also a project that helped us test the catering options that are available to students,” Asbury said. “We’re excited about that because it allows people to have parties at reduced risk. Aramark’s been great in trying to put a package like that together for a variety of student groups and this was much more affordable than earlier packages.” Asbury thought that Aramark’s success at Fusion was a good sign for the campus social life. “We feel that house fraternities carry an unfair burden and we wanted to provide a safer alternative,” she said. The party’s biggest problem was caused by its own popularity. Security’s estimate of the number of guests was between 800 and 900 people, far more than expected. “We weren’t expecting 800 people at 12:30. If we had known it would have taken off like that we would have had more food, more bartenders… all that stuff,” Asbury said.Levesque can be reached at clevesque@campustimes.org.