Ball State University students can get motivated and show their enthusiasm for Saturday's Homecoming game by attending a cookout at the Noyer Bowl today between 6:30 p.m. and 9 p.m.
The Yard Beef Cookout is the National Pan-Hellenic Council's biggest event during its week of events and includes competitive games and activities such as tug-of-war, powder puff football and an obstacle course, LaToya Black, graduate adviser of the NPHC, said.
The event is co-sponsored by the Black Student Association.
"The beef is a term that students today use to mean 'you have a beef with someone' or a person is a problem," she said. "It is fitting with Homecoming because Ball State has a problem with Western Michigan."
The problem is that the team is coming to Ball States's campus to play on Ball State's football field during Ball States Homecoming, she said.
The NPHC oversees the nine black fraternities and sororities on the Ball State campus and has events during Welcome Week and for a week each semester.
NPHC started planning the week in mid-September, but began talking with BSA at the beginning of October, Black said. Normally the NPHC would charge attendees for the parties but because it is collaborating with the BSA, the organizations decided to not charge students, she said.
"The executive board of the NPHC had the name and theme of the event already, and then went to the BSA to get a better feeling of what the students might want to participate in," she said. "Then we had meetings and made calls to people to discuss the food and activities that would take place."
The BSA is glad the NPHC approached the organization because BSA is one of two minority organizations on campus, and includes all students on campus this year, not just black students, BSA president Brittny Smith said.
"I'm a senior so I know all about Homecoming, but there are some freshmen out there who just sit in their dorms and don't know about other things out there," Smith said. "We wanted to think of a way to not only get our names out there but also show there's a lot to offer at Ball State and the campus is the place to be. The event is for everyone."
Hot dogs, hamburgers and chips will be free to students who attend the event.
The Yard Beef Cookout is a time for students to get together and converse, BSA adviser Tiffany Washington said.
"It's a great time to have the cookout because it's Homecoming Week and it's a time for the greeks, multicultural organizations and all students to show their faces and mingle," she said.
This is the first time the NPHC has had an event like this, and hopefully it will become the council's signature event, Black said. The NPHC and the BSA encourage all students to come early, she said.
"We have enough food for 200 to 300 people, but we expect more than that," she said.
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