[ Golden Gater Online - December 16, 1997 ]
Bill Blackwell II
Staff writer
Let's hope the seismic retrofit of the university will be done by Feb. 7, because step shows are coming back to SF State, and the greeks will try and stomp the McKenna Theater off the Richter scale.
For black fraternities and sororities, step shows are more than just a dance competition; it's an opportunity to attract more blacks to campus. Last year, step shows, an African-American tradition since the 1920s, were exiled off campus with little or no explanation from the administration. This year, though, all SF State's black greek-letter organizations and the African/Black Student Union are cooperating with the administration to bring the step shows back.
According to the Director of Student Affairs Terrence Mitchell, the step shows were banned because the fraternity that sponsored it, Phi Beta Sigma, didn't provide for adequate security. Mitchell said he made the decision not to allow the choreographed dance competition back on campus because an administrator and campus police saw a fight break out after the announcement of one of the prizes in 1994. Mitchell would not give the name of the administrator that witnessed the fight and campus police didn't file a report on the incident. According to Mitchell, the situation was handled quickly and campus police did not get involved, but it was enough to make the university worry about future risks.
"The police don't have to be involved for us to be concerned about safety," Mitchell said. "We want to stop the problem before the police get involved."
The Sigmas were then told if they didn't fix the , there would be no step show.
The next year there were no complaints about fights, but campus police did receive a number of complaints from the nearby Park Merced community about students hanging out and causing a disturbance long after the step show was over, complaints some greeks suspected were racially motivated.
The complaints were enough for Mitchell to put a blanket ban on all step shows.
When the Zeta Phi Beta sorority organized a step show last spring, Mitchell suggested the event be held at Lowell High School, even though the show had been reserved for McKenna Theater. Mitchell said the banning was not because of the complaints but because of the security problems that caused the first incident in 1994 hadn't been resolved.
"You would think that they would want a step show," said Monika Brooks, president of the African/Black Student Union. "There is no recruitment and retention of African-Americans on this campus. That's why A/BSU got involved."
Brooks and others said that step shows are a good way to increase the visibility of African-American organizations on campus, and entice more African-Americans to stay on campus since the demise of the football team in 1994. Football ended after a federal law passed that required equal budgeting toward male and female sports. "After the football team left, you could just see the people leaving," said Marcum Jones, president of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
After the uproar over the banning of the step shows last year, Mitchell decided they needed to work together to handle the security issues. He sent letters out to Alpha Phi Alpha, the Omega Psi Phi and the Iota Phi Theta fraternities and the Zeta Phi Beta, the Gamma Phi Delta and the Alpha Kappa Alpha sororities this summer to discuss the university's concerns and work with them to make sure step shows come back on campus.
Mitchell is no stranger to step show competitions. When he was in college, he was a member of Alpa Phi Alpha, the fraternity that started step show competitions in the 1920s. Before he came to SF State, he was the advisor for step show competitions at Oklahoma University that drew crowds of 5,000 or more.
"I think maybe seeing some of the problems that can happen at larger schools made me a little wary," Mitchell said.
[ Golden Gater - December 16, 1997 ]