~Alpha Phi Alpha supplies weekly music to anyone who wants to socialize
Music is blaring, some people are sitting and talking to their friends and others are walking past while glancing at those who are jamming to the tunes. This is the scene on many Wednesday afternoons in front of Kent Library at Southeast Missouri State University.
For many years, members of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity have played music in front of the library. Martez Byrth, a junior who is studying psychology and is the secretary of the fraternity, was selecting music from his phone to play through a speaker on Wednesday, Sept. 11.
"It's music that's really popular in our culture," Byrth said, referring to Alpha Phi Alpha as a traditionally African-American fraternity. "It's music that we hear at parties."
Byrth explained that no one in particular at the fraternity is in charge of playing the music, so the responsibility is passed around the brotherhood.
Byrth did not know when playing music in front of the library became a weekly event for Alpha Phi Alpha.
"It's been going on for a few years," Byrth said. "One of my older frat brothers, he graduated, he started it, so it kind of became a tradition."
Matt Brucker, a junior who is majoring in multimedia journalism, has walked past the library and noticed the music that is played by Alpha Phi Alpha.
"I notice the people dancing," Brucker said. "I think it's different because you don't see weekly meetings with the other fraternities or other groups meeting out in the open."
Benjamin Rouggly, a sophomore who is studying law enforcement, has not heard or seen the music, but he has heard his friends talk about it.
"I like music, and I appreciate music and performances," Rouggly said.
The students who gather dance on some Wednesdays. This is not planned and is completely improvised, but the fraternity calls it a performance.
When Byrth is choosing the music, he socializes with many of the people in attendance.
"Most of the time, I go around and talk to people. I'll sit here and maintain the music or talk to my frat brothers," Byrth said.
Byrth said that playing music on Wednesdays may not happen every week as the weather becomes colder, so they may soon be ending their jam sessions for this semester.
Aside from the music on Wednesdays, Alpha Phi Alpha has weekly meetings at 7 p.m. on Sundays and hosts forums on social issues throughout the school year and a yearly Martin Luther King, Jr. Peace Walk.
Also, members soon will have their annual black and gold scholarship pageant on campus, which grants scholarships to female students who compete for the title.
