UAB hosts Neon Night Club dance party as alternative Saturday night fun for students

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With a glow stick as a makeshift headband and a black T-shirt drenched in sweat, engineering sophomore Andrew Smith embodied the spirit of the Neon Night Club dance party Saturday night in the International Center food court.

Despite Smith’s hopes, the dance floor remained empty with about 25 students spread out before the disc jockey booth.

“I definitely expected it to be of low attendance but not this low attendance,” Smith said, attempting to regain his breath. “I just ignore the fact that there’s no one else to bump into.”

The Neon Night Club event was hosted by the University Activities Board to give students an alternative to traditional off-campus parties, said psychology and marketing junior Meaghen Murray, the spirit and traditions committee director for the board.

Murray said the Neon Night Club was a way to test the waters for events such as this in the future.

“We had dances like this six years ago and … I thought I could maybe bring it back and hopefully start a new tradition of having alternative parties (at MSU),” she said.

Murray said events such as this provide students with a way to have fun without being pressured to drink alcohol.

Though some students, such as Smith, made the most of the event, other students, such as Spanish freshman Zachariah Mann, were not impressed.

Mann said the event had potential to be fun and he hoped more people would be in attendance. But he said some students might have been deterred because the event was on campus and university sponsored.

“(The event had) good enough music, (it was a) good try,” Mann said. “But when you can go off campus and do the same thing, I feel like people would rather do that.”

Mann and his friends left the event about an hour after it started. Other students, such as history freshman Nick Hilden, enjoyed the event despite the small turnout.

Hilden said he came into the event with an open mind, not knowing what to expect, and was pleasantly surprised.

“It’s something to do, something to get out for,” Hilden said. “I wish there were more people (attending) — that would be cooler — (and) maybe a little better music, but it was fun.”

Though she was worried by the slow turnout at the beginning, Murray said she was happy with the Neon Night Club as a whole and hopes to have similar events in the future.

“(Events such as this are) something different so (students) don’t have to feel predisposed to go out and party and meet all the stereotypes that go with partying,” she said.

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