The University Student Union and the Union Program Council hosted the Grand Affair last Friday, a social event on campus for students to mingle with friends as they danced to popular music and listened to the MTV award-winning band, U-N-I.
The Grand Salon was transformed into a club-like atmosphere and the usual long tables and burgundy auditorium chairs were cleared out and replaced with tall bar tables, black and red lounge chairs, and a massive dance floor.
‘We wanted to bring a sense of night life to CSUN for students who can’t always get down to Hollywood,’ said Christina Lee, 21-year-old radiology major and vice chair of the Union Program Council.
Events like the Grand Affair began about four years ago and since then have been put on once a semester by the student run Union Program Council.
Lee was in charge of handing out water and glow sticks and getting students to fill out e-mail contact forms so they could be contacted for future events.
Special Events Chair Shari Lucas, 21-year-old theater and screen writing major, was in charge of picking the event date, choosing a theme, and finding the talent to perform.
‘U-N-I performed at the Big Show so I decided to contact them for this event, they have a funky sense of style to them and I wanted that to reflect in the theme,’ said Lucas.
Some students did complain about the lack of people who attended. The UPC’s target attendance was about 300 students, said Lucas, but not that many students actually attended. For safety reasons, students were given wristbands when they first entered and were not allowed to go in and out of the building.
According to CSUN’s event policy, doors were closed at 10 p.m. and students who arrived after that time were denied entrance. The African American Organization held their annual fashion show the same night and started their event late. As a result of the delay, students who attended the fashion show were unable to make it in time to see U-N-I perform.
For students who did make it on time, they witnessed U-N-I start their set from the back of the room, making their way through the crowd of screaming students up to the stage.
After their performance, rappers Thurzday and Y-O went out into the crowd to take pictures and sign autographs.
‘We like doing shows like this because it gives us a chance to show love to the people who helped us get here. L.A. is our backyard, and since we don’t always agree with the current radio plays, events like this give us a chance to show the positivity in our music,’ said Y-O.
‘We love college, we love the younger generation, and our sophomore street album, ‘Love Supreme’ can be downloaded online,’ Thurzday added.
Even after U-N-I left the stage, students continued to dance until the music stopped and the strobe lights were turned off.
Jonathan Gjemso, an 18-year-old mechanical engineer major, decided to come out to the affair after someone promoting the event handed him a flier on campus.
‘I’m originally from Mexico and my friends and I wanted something to do on a Friday night. The best part of the night was listening to the rappers, I really like their sense of style and their musical beats,’ said Gjemso.
