By Zerina Bajramovic
Contributing Writer
The MUB’s Granite State Room was filled to capacity Tuesday night from 6 to 7:30 p.m., while 14 UNH sororities and fraternities competed in the annual Sexual Harassment and Rape Prevention Program lip sync competition.
The lip sync was hosted by the Panhellenic Council as part of Greek Week on campus. Tickets sold for $5, and 100 percent of the proceeds were donated to SHARPP.
“It’s a fun way to bring everyone together and raise awareness,” SHARPP representative Jess Rosenthal said.
SHARPP set up a poster in the back of the room, offering information about their program and Greek InterVarsity served lemonade as a refreshment.
It was a night for all aspects of Greek Life to come together, have fun, and provide entertainment while supporting an important cause on campus.
The performances were judged based on the choreography, audience reaction, and most importantly the synchronization of all the performers.
“I did this last year too, and sync is definitely a big deal,” judge Nick Kinslow said.
There were five judges, including the Coordinator of Fraternity and Sorority Life, Erin Courville, a representative from SHARPP, the Interfraternity Council, the Panhellenic Council, and the United Greek Life Association.
“It’s something we do every year. It’s a lot of fun and gives SHARPP the opportunity to raise awareness about important issues,” Courville said. She went on to say that Greek Life is a big supporter of the program and what it promotes. Greek Life wants to give SHARPP the opportunity to spread its message.
Chi Omega opened up the night with its performance to a One Direction mash-up of songs.
The performances of the night had a wide rang of music including songs by Justin Bieber, Gwen Stefani, and both “Thriller” and “Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson.
The size of the performances ranged from two people to performers completely filling the stage and overflowing on the floor around it.
Sarra Vallon, vice president of Internal Affairs on the Panhellenic Council, coordinated much of the event and could be seen running around between performances making sure everything was in check.
“I was more backstage and handling the technical aspect of everything, but I had a lot of fun tonight,” Vallon said.
The audience members also had a lot of fun, clapping along to many of the performances. Sorority sisters and fraternity brothers filled much of the seats in support of the cause and their own chapters.
The audience was encouraged to tweet using the hashtag, #SHARPPLipSync, and some of the tweets were read out loud between performances.
“It’s a stressful time in the semester with a lot of people having midterms, but it was really cool to see everybody put that aside and just have a good time,” said Doug Marino, member of Phi Mu Delta. “Preventing sexual assault on campus is among the most important priorities for the student body at UNH, and we should all take the time to do our part and help.”
Marino was also a participant. Him and his partner Alex Fries lip synced to “Sugar” by Maroon 5 and dumped sugar on themselves and the stage.
This year’s first place winner was Sigma Phi Epsilon, (SigEp), whose performance included a crowd-pleasing throwback to Avril Lavigne’s “Sk8er boi,” Heelys and High School Musical.
Tau Kappa Epsilon came in second place. They performed “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?” from “The Lion King,” with much enthusiasm and creative costumes. Alpha Phi came in third. Their lip sync was modeled after the finale performance in Pitch Perfect.
“I’m damn proud of my brothers,” said Mike Wulftange, member of SigEp, after taking a celebratory first place picture with his fraternity brothers. “It took a lot of practice, but we did it,” added Wulftange.
