By Diana Solano
Staff Writer
While many students gathered in the Lion’s Den at 11 a.m. for their usual meal equivalency, others were enticed by the smell of barbecue ribs, mac and cheese and Insomnia cookies.
On April 15, the College Union Board hosted its first “Barbecue-ner” in the Brower Student Center Room 225 to celebrate the countdown to summer break.
With picnic blankets spread across the room, students had the opportunity to eat barbecue-style food, take Polaroid photos and listen to live music. The bands featured were Cheyenne Dan, Ornamental and The College of New Jersey Jazz Septet.
Camille Germo, a freshman psychology major, saw the event as an opportunity to enjoy free food while seeing one of her favorite bands, Cheyenne Dan.
“The opportunity to see them on campus is one of the reasons I came to this event,” Germo said. “I really like their song called ‘Club Soda Man.’ Besides that, I’m really looking forward to eating some mac and cheese.”
Moe Rahmatullah, a junior marketing major and student event coordinator for CUB, thought of the barbecue-themed event during last semester’s Salooner. When it came time to start coordinating the event, Rahmatullah contacted Mama Flores, Boston Market and Insomnia Cookies to plan the most important part of a barbecue — the food.
As for the live music, Rahmatullah scouted popular local bands to amp up the barbecue feel.
“Normally CUB Alt puts on music shows but since I’m not on Alt, I just reached out to a few bands I know and talked to them,” Rahmatullah said. “I asked them if they wanted to play and I got some friends to agree.”
Emma Eisenbeil, a sophomore English and secondary education dual major, was drawn to the event after seeing CUB’s post on social media.
“I heard about this event on Instagram,” Eisenbeil said. “The wings definitely got me here. I just wanted something new. It gets kind of tiring having to go to the same stations during meal equiv.”
The “Barbecue-ner” was a success, drawing in students who were looking for a chance to unwind to live music and mix things up for lunch.
