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Latin fraternity to meet with Union officials this morning
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Several University of Wisconsin student organizations will meet today with representatives of the UW Police Department to discuss policies regarding planning and execution of events taking place at the student unions.
The meeting comes on the heels of a Lambda Theta Phi Latin Fraternity party that was scheduled to take place last Saturday but was canceled due to security concerns, according to UWPD Assistant Chief Dale Burke.
Representatives from the UWPD, the MultiCultural Student Coalition, the Associated Students of Madison and the Wisconsin Union are expected to attend the meeting, which will take place tomorrow morning.
Members of the Lambda Theta Phi and Alpha Phi Alpha fraternities are also expected to be at the meeting.
Representatives from different student organizations said police officials have acted differently when handling events involving hip-hop and have required extra safety meetings before the events are allowed to take place.
UW senior Katrina Flores, executive member of the MultiCultural Student Coalition, said the issue has to do with communication between the UWPD and groups attempting to organize events.
According to Flores, there have been several incidents on campus where hip-hop events and organizations focused on the interests of students of color were singled out when it comes to programming.
The MCSC has to meet with Union security weeks before hip-hop oriented events, while other groups playing different musical genres do not, Flores said.
In most of the cases, UWPD requests extra security normally not required in other events, she added.
"When you have extra security, it almost says, 'You guys are dangerous, and your music is dangerous,'" Flores said.
According to UW sophomore Matt Forrest, a member of the MCSC and director of festivals for the Wisconsin Union Directorate music committee, the UWPD has attended several hip-hop themed events and normally requires extra security "beyond what is normally requested."
In a previous interview with The Badger Herald, Burke said the department would have been understaffed for the Lambda Theta Phi party due to The Citadel football game earlier that day, and they canceled the event because it could become a "crowd control issue."
Lambda Theta Phi Foundation officials said they suspect racial profiling and also said the organization is currently evaluating their options regarding a lawsuit.
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“When you have extra security, it almost says, 'You guys are dangerous, and your music is dangerous,'" Flores said.
The music isnt dangerous, its the people that attend these events that are sometimes trouble makers. Frats on Langdon always hire their own security and have strict rules. Maybe these orgs should start doing the same to control the wild ones that attend these events
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In no way am I saying that security should not be at the events. It is the additional security measures that are taken with what are perceived to be historically folk of color organizations and Greeks that is the inconsistency. All organizations have asked to provide security and pay for it in terms of what would be expected for any organization. There is no ask for special treatment here…only an ask for same treatment (not special on the positive or negative). Problems exist when 12 UWPD show up without communication after security has been agreed on by the groups, UWPD and Union Staff and insist on not letting people in and lower capacity of venues on the night of the event by 100-300 attendees. It is also a problem if an event has Hip Hop there are additional rules.
Katrina Flores kbflores@wisc.edu