Imagine inviting three of your friends up to NIU for a party. After getting all dressed up you arrive at the party, ready to go in, then you wait.

And wait … and wait … and wait a minute, you paid $15 for this party.

That’s the problem many students had to deal with this weekend when trying to get into a homecoming dance Friday night, sponsored by the National Pan-Hellenic Council.

Security checks outside Chick Evans Field House caused a huge back-up of people, said University Police Lt. John Hunter. Between 11 and 12 p.m. everybody decided to show up and became uneasy after having to wait in a long line after paying for their tickets.

According to Rick Clark, university programming and activities director, early numbers show that about 1,800 to 2,000 students were in attendance for Friday’s dance.

Any time there’s that type of attendance for a social event, it’s going to get crowded getting in, said Bertrand Simpson, associate director for programming and activities.

Simpson, who was outside overseeing security, said the people at the party acted the way anyone would have in that situation. Everyone was just really anxious to get in, and they got a little restless, he said.

There were no formal complaints by students, and the crowd was kept under control, but situations like this suggest that the university needs to rethink their procedure when admitting people into large events.

LaVerne Gyant, director of the Center for Black Studies and adviser for National Pan-Hellenic Council, said the measures that NIU takes are strictly for the safety of all the participants.

These measures make events at NIU safe, Gyant said.

“NIU should be commended for very little, if any, violence problems,” Gyant said. “This is because of the security checks.”

Gyant added that she doesn’t think other schools have such intense security checks.

The checks for Friday’s dance included checking for tickets, NIU ID’s for students and wristbands for any guests.

Students also were patted down to find any possibly threatening items they may be in possession of. Gyant added that these searches help to find people who might have had too much to drink.

One thing students at the dance thought could have been done was opening up another entrance, but according to Simpson, that would deplete the the amount of attention that needed to be given. That could lead to more problems, he added.