On Sunday, the Welcome Back Concert gave students a chance to
enjoy musical performances and bring in the fall quarter.
It also left out the riot police and mass crowding associated
with the event it replaced: Black Sunday.
The concert organizers, fraternities and university police said
they were satisfied with Black Sunday’s replacement.
Black Sunday, a fraternity-hosted block party, occurred on the
last Sunday before fall quarter until this past October when
problems such as overcrowding became too much for the
Interfraternity Council and UCPD to handle.
As a result, the event was suspended for two years.
The planning of the Welcome Back Concert began after the
suspension of Black Sunday and was set to be its alternative.
Approximately 5,000 people, including students, faculty and
guests, attended the concert at Pauley Pavilion.
The audience responded well to concert performers Zion I and Bad
Religion, said Ken Heller, associate director for student
programming and one of the main organizers for the concert.
“(The turnout) shows that there was an interest in events
taking place before school starts and after students have moved
in,” he said.
Some of the concert’s major participants were members of
fraternities because the IFC helped organizers plan the concert
after the suspension of Black Sunday.
“I thought that for a first attempt, the Welcome Back
Concert was a success,” said Trevor Gribble, IFC vice
president.
How the fraternities would respond to the concert as Black
Sunday’s replacement was unknown until the event took
place.
The IFC thought a lot of fraternity members would be upset about
Black Sunday ending and would not attend the concert, but there was
a large turnout from the fraternities, Gribble said.
Also, students interested in rushing were present at the concert
and received tickets from fraternities before the event.
By doing so, the recruits had a chance to learn more about the
fraternity system and rushing from members standing outside of the
concert, Gribble said.
He added that Black Sunday was used as a recruiting tool by some
fraternities, but it was not as successful as the Welcome Back
Concert.
“In the past, a lot of recruits came to party but
didn’t find out about the system,” he said.
Gribble cited intoxication of the recruits as one of Black
Sunday’s main problems.
Though the fraternities did not have parties this year, there
were incidents of individuals throwing minor parties that took
place on the outskirts of the UCLA campus, said Nancy Greenstein,
UCPD director for community services.
According to police records, parties occurred along Gayley and
Landfair avenues.
The larger parties were shut down by UCPD due to noise
complaints, she said, adding that though party organizers were
cooperative, some attendees were upset when UCPD shut down the
parties.
“They were like the fun police,” said Ari Hershey, a
fourth-year history student.
Hershey had out-of-state friends staying with him at his
Landfair Avenue apartment last weekend.
He said when UCPD came to stop a party at his residence, the
police made his friends wait outside the apartment because the
visitors were not residents.
Grant Koziol, a fourth-year English student and Landfair Avenue
resident, did not believe the actions of the police represented
UCLA well, he said.
The party organizers were trying to provide the social aspects
of a college experience, Koziol said.
“We’re trying to maintain a college environment.
Frankly, I’m embarrassed,” he said.