NEWS
Union South gets freaky in own way
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by Carl Jaeger
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
In an effort to provide an alternative to the State Street celebration, the University of Wisconsin opened Union South as a venue to students interested in participating in a different side of Halloween.
The Associated Students of Madison and the Wisconsin Union Directorate contacted the UW Chancellor John Wiley's office earlier this year about opening Union South during Halloween weekend.
"ASM worked with WUD during the summer to allow student groups to hold alternative events in the Unions," said Dylan Rath, chair of ASM. "In the past, they were not allowed to due to concerns with security."
Kristina Mueller, vice president of internal relations for WUD, said events held at Union South as part of the Halloween celebration included karaoke, a costume party, book studies and religious study groups.
Some student organizations, like Sober Students on Campus, used the event as an opportunity to hold meetings. One such group, UW Mage, hosted a storytelling and game session.
"There are a lot of legitimate events that students want to hold for fun over Halloween," Rath said. "We wanted to provide a location for students to come feel safe and to be able to have a chance to engage in fun, social activities with other groups."
Many felt that the success of Union South's Halloween events showed promise for the expansion of future alternative celebrations.
"The partnerships and good relationships that were built and the overall attitude of the event — my hope is that this is a good sign for things to come," UW Interim Dean of Students Lori Berquam said.
Dawn Crim, administration program specialist to the chancellor's office, also expressed positive feelings about last weekend's events at Union South.
Crim noted that not all students wanted to celebrate Halloween on "chaotic" State Street, and allowing student organizations to hold alternative events gave students additional options.
"We are still evaluating what contributed to the success of the weekend," Crim said. "But we are happy we provided the alternative space."
According to Crim, meetings will be held this week to discuss future plans to keep Union South open during Halloween weekend.
Events at the Union South were only open to UW students, staff and faculty, and alcohol was only served until 9 p.m.
"We are pleased with the beginning of the re-branding of the State Street Halloween," Crim said. "We feel like it's a wonderful first step."
Anonymous (October 31, 2006 @ 7:44am):
Your new writer, Carl Jaeger, provides an thoughtful,interesting and open perspective on a wide variety of university activities. I like his style. Keep up the good work!
