The Cord Weekly , Wilfrid Laurier's Student Newspaper - Sep 19, 2007

WLUSU grants approval to

By Melissa Dranfield

The annual Homecoming event receives official university support for the first time in four years; fraternity president hopes to eliminate 'negative stigma' that comes with Greek clubs

This weekend, as Laurier students begin celebrating Homecoming weekend, included will be Friday night’s annual Pikecoming event thrown by Laurier’s Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity, better known on campus as the Pikes.

For the past few years, Pikecoming has been a fairly typical university-type party at the Pike House on Albert Street, and has not been affiliated with Laurier due to a past incident in which the behaviour of students attending a field party led to several issues with the university.

The incident of most recent memory occurred during Homecoming Weekend 2003 when The Cord reported that, with approximately 1,650 people in attendance at the Rod and Gun Club in Elmira, a riot broke out.

With the kegs having run dry earlier than expected, people began lining up for a ride back to campus on one of the 12 buses booked by the fraternity.
Having to deal with long wait times and line-ups, impatient attendees began getting rowdy. This escalated to the point where Foot Patrol, BACCHUS and ERT members were spat on and verbally abused.

On top of that, approximately $900 worth of damage was caused through kicked-in bus windows.

This year, however, the Pikes are hoping to turn things around for Pikecoming. The event, which is to be an all-ages corporate-sponsored concert, featuring performers such as headliner Choclair as well as several supporting acts, including local punk-hip hop band Jen Militia and Toronto-based Red Light Riot, will be held at Bingeman’s in Kitchener.

Pike President Mike Perulli, who took over Laurier’s Pi Kappa Alpha chapter in May, said that moving Pikecoming to a third-party location this year has been driven by several different motivating factors.

According to Perulli, these include “heightened by-law enforcement, efforts to appease disgruntled neighbours, and [most importantly] in hopes of building a more positive overall attitude towards the Pikes on campus and in the surrounding community.”

Perulli, who has been a Pike for three years, feels that “there is a lot of negative stigma around Greek life on campus.” Their goal this year “is to build a positive image for the Pikes - and for all of Greek life.”

He added that “Pikecoming is to be a fun, safe event for Laurier students to enjoy.” In order to reinforce the safety of concert-goers, off-duty police officers will be working the event.

Integral in improving perceptions of the Pikes on campus has been getting the university officially on-board with Pikecoming.

As a part of Greek Council, the Pikes are technically considered a campus club, and like any other campus club, they have to go through a formal approval process with the Wilfrid Laurier University Students’ Union (WLUSU). This requires that an off-campus event form be signed by Michael McMahon, WLUSU’s general manager.

Laurier’s dean of students, David McMurray, has been actively involved this year in the efforts to help revamp the image of Greek Life on campus. McMurray stated that WLUSU’s biggest concern with events like Pikecoming is safety, and he feels that this year the Pikes have done an excellent job ensuring that the event will be properly managed.

McMurray was also encouraged by the “extensive genuine effort by [Perulli] and the Pikes, as well as the leadership of other fraternities and sororities,” to revamp their image on campus.

WLUSU President Dan Allison shares McMurray’s confidence in the smooth execution of Friday night’s event.
A Pike alumni himself, Allison stated, “I couldn’t be happier than to see Pikecoming evolve into [a WLUSU-endorsed] concert at a trusted venue such as Bingeman’s.”