An Alpha Phi Alpha dance party in Memorial Union's Great Hall with an estimated 2,000 attendees was shut down by police and fire departments Friday night due to the event's over-capacity.
Campus and city police and fire officials arrived on scene when the campus facility, which can only hold 585, swelled well over its limits.
According to police, party attendees did not cooperate with police and fire department orders.
When the fire department went on scene, people refused to leave the building as asked to do,"" Julie Thompson, a UWPD communication officer, said Sunday. ""[They] pretty much just totally disregarded police, which creates a pretty dangerous situation.""
After crowds did not disperse but instead ""clogged"" hallways, according to Thompson, police decided to shut down the event.
UWPD said there were no reported injuries, but Madison police were called to assist in shutting down the dance.
Last week, campus police had to intervene for security reasons in a similar social fraternity event set to be held at a UW-Madison facility.
UWPD Assistant Police Chief Dale Burke said last week that university police canceled an event cosponsored by Lambda Theta Phi and Alpha Phi Alpha scheduled for Sept. 15 because the event was widely advertised through Facebook and included a guest list potentially beyond the capacity of the reserved campus facility.
The number of police available to station the event was also questionable because of a home football game earlier that day.
""The other [event] - that was scheduled on a night of football where there just simply wasn't enough enforcement for two big events like that, so that's just more of a safety issue,"" Thompson said. ""This one was actually in progress and had to be closed.""
She said meetings between UWPD and other campus groups to discuss the issue could occur sometime this week.
Calls to Alpha Phi Alpha members were not returned Sunday night.
