Union directors and UW police said Tuesday they would collaborate with students to streamline union event policies, in response to complaints police unfairly cancelled several social fraternity events this semester.
Student members of the Alliance for Programming Equality, which represents several student organizations, met with the police and directors Tuesday about UWPD policy on planned campus events.
Matt Forrest, Wisconsin Union Directorate music committee assistant director, said UWPD has enforced an unequal policy when dealing with music-based events, especially hip-hop programs.
The point of our events was to bring in a positive hip-hop influence to the community of Madison as well as to foster diversity,"" he said.
The issue of event targeting surfaced in September after two fraternities' events were cancelled or shutdown by police.
UWPD said it cancelled a Lambda Theta Phi fraternity event that was intended to celebrate the beginning of Hispanic Heritage Month Sept. 15, due to crowd control issues. Fraternity officials, however, said the cancellation was related to racial profiling and biases against the planned music.
At a separate event, police shut down an Alpha Phi Alpha dance party at Memorial Union's Great Hall Sept. 21 because of the event's over-capacity at the time.
Forrest stressed that for many fraternities without houses on campus, such as Lambda Theta Phi, the union serves as a central event center. ""So when they have to cancel their events, it is hurtful.""
Amanda Green, WUD's vice president of public relations, agreed and said APE wants to work with the Registered Student Organization Security Board to iron out an official policy for all events.
""We want everyone to have the exact same standards when they come [to the Union] for programs,"" Green said. ""We really want our goals to create a new policy that all bodies can agree upon.""
In response, UWPD Chief Susan Riseling said police procedures are never based on the content of events, but rather on the policy codes of the institution in which they take place.
She said it is often hard for police to approach events with a ""clean slate"" attitude, but embraced a proposal for including more students in future RSO Security Board meetings to foster better planning cooperation.
""We need to make sure that the policies are more interactive and understandable,"" Riseling said, adding many of APE's goals could be drafted into a policy.
A follow-up meeting is scheduled for next week to draft a plan.
No representatives of Lambda Theta Phi and Alpha Phi Alpha were present, though Forrest said the fraternities had been notified of the meeting in advance.
