Two Eastern students were arrested early Saturday morning on charges of aggravated assault to a police officer, the result of a skirmish at a Black Student Union dance.

Stating members of the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity and Eastern football players were at “the center” of the altercation, Director of Student Life Ceci Brinker explained tensions between the two groups had escalated after a falling out. Those tensions snapped resulting in a fight concluding in the two arrests around 12:15 a.m. on Saturday, witnesses said.

Names of the arrested students could not be released by the two police officers at the scene. University, Charleston and Coles County police departments teamed to control the hostile situation. No major damage to the Grand Ballroom, University Lounge or surrounding areas was found.

“It’s unfortunate that a handful of people ruined a good time for many others,” Brinker said.

Security for this Black Student Union-sponsored event – held in the Grand Ballroom of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union – was tightened after a Step Show honoring the late Miss Johnetta Jones in November ended early because of a fight. At 11 p.m. on Friday, police officers wielding metal detectors greeted the 150 to 175 students attending the dance scheduled to end at 1:45 a.m. Saturday.

One university worker said a girl ran out of the Grand Ballroom and announced: “There’s a fight!” University police entered the ballroom and those involved were told to leave. The altercation did not involve members from Phi Beta Sigma or the football team, although Jamarr Day, a Panthers’ junior linebacker who was at the dance, said members of the football team helped break up the fight.

A flier advertising the dance proclaimed: “Warning. Warning. Warning. If you are coming to fight, you will be taken to jail. No questions asked.” Despite that, Brinker said officials allowed the first incident to slide by.

Tempers again flared, Phi Beta Sigma President Adam Little said, when his fraternity brothers and football players began to argue. Little alleges the football players first held their middle fingers up in the air while dancing, then did the same in the faces of Phi Beta Sigma members.

A football player, Day confirmed, pushed a member of Phi Beta Sigma, knocking him to the ground. More pushing and shoving ensued by both parties. A few punches were thrown.

Sometime during the attempt to settle the altercation, a Phi Beta Sigma member knocked a canister of pepper spray from a police officer’s hand. Then, only a few minutes into Saturday, two students were arrested, confirmed a police officer on the scene.

So, for the second time this academic calendar year, a fight marred an otherwise trouble-free Black Student Union dance. Little wants to apologize and reaffirm his fraternity’s role in the fight was only retaliatory. Day said “everybody is at fault” and that the football team does not want to cause any trouble.

“It was going fine; people were dancing moving around,” said Black Student Union President Erika Robinson. The BSU plans to conduct a full investigation to clear itself from wrongdoing to maintain its party-holding privileges. We don’t want to jeopardize entertainment for other students on campus.”

More than a half hour after the arrests were made, night custodians dust mopped the tile floor next to Java B&B, a coffee shop located in the union. Six or seven flower pots of dirt speckled the walls and layered the navy blue carpet. The remains of the green shrubs strung across the flower bed adjacent to the Grand Ballroom’s entrance.

As one female student walked down the steps, she was heard telling a friend: “They ruined it for us.”

Little, who said he was punched and plans to file charges, alleges his fraternity brothers stood up for their rights to a group of football players who live off of intimidation. Most of the pushing resulted from attempts to break up the skirmish.

“This incident on campus doesn’t represent the black community on campus as a whole,” Little, a senior journalism major, said. “(The Florida football players) live off fear, intimidation and antagonistic behavior. The men of Phi Beta Sigma only stand for principles and true manhood. Them being men you have to fight back when someone is like that.

” … these problems aren’t a problem with the whole African American community on campus, but it represents a bigger problem, the feeling they’re superior to everyone else, but they’re not.”

Day guessed the only reason why football players come across as intimidating is because they lift weights and are bigger than most students here.

“I think they are trying to prove something, but there’s no point to prove,” Day said. “I’m not sure what their point is.”