Students planning to eat dinner tonight at the dining facilities of Lincoln and Douglas halls and Grant Towers will not find food being served.

Instead, students are encouraged to take a Huskie Line bus to the Campus Cinemas parking lot, 1015 Blackhawk Drive, for a barbecue-style dinner, carnival games, live music and information on NIU’s Greek chapters.

The dining halls in the Neptune and Stevenson residence halls will be open.

There’s one residence hall resident who’s not enthused about the idea.

“That’s the most [ridiculous] idea I’ve ever heard in my life,” said sophomore English major and Douglas Hall resident Emily Ericson. “If I want to know more about the Greeks, I’d hang out at the frats more often.”

Ericson has other reasons beyond personal disinterest for disliking the program. She feels that while closing the Grant dining hall would be understandable, closing down three dining halls puts unfair pressure on freshmen to attend, even if they are not interested in going Greek.

Other students were more receptive to the idea.

“I think it’s cool, because a lot of people don’t know about fraternities or sororities,” said freshman undecided major and Grant resident Emily Ebel. “But it’s kind of intimidating to ask them. I think it’s a good idea if you’re thinking about joining.”

Games will be sponsored by the four Greek councils – the Interfraternity Council, College Panhellenic Council, National Pan Hellenic Council and the Multicultural Greek Council, as well as the Order of Omega, a Greek honor society. Activities include a giant velcro twister, a gladiator joust, a bungee run, human bowling and street canoe races.

Food will be available for purchase with either dining dollars or cash. The band Alternate End will perform from 5 to 7 p.m.

“The carnival is a win-win-win-win situation,” MGC president Andrew Becerra said. “The university gets to give a great gift to all the Greeks for their hard work and cooperation.

The Greek system in general gets publicized to the university and the community, which has not happened in the past.

The individual chapters themselves get to go out and wear their letters. And students get to see that the Greek system is actually very different from the movie ‘Animal House.’”

The aim of the carnival is to let new students find out for themselves what the Greek system is all about, said Craig Marcus, program assistant for Greek Affairs.

Marcus hopes the carnival will let students see the positive aspects of the Greek system and what it can offer to the university and the community.