Princeton group alleges Penn Six impropriety

The Wildcats, a female a cappella group, complained about their treatment at the Penn Six show. The final song of the Princeton Wildcats' set during last Thursday's Pennsylvania Six-5000 show was Aretha Franklin's "Respect," but the visiting all-female a cappella group felt they were treated with anything but. The Wildcats e-mailed University President Judith Rodin a letter of complaint yesterday about Penn Six's conduct at the Irvine Auditorium show, entitled "Busted Interface." In the letter, the Wildcats expressed their anger over what they perceived as offensive actions by members of Penn Six and Penn Six fans. "We felt in retrospect that we had been invited specifically to be made fun of," the Wildcats wrote. The Princeton group's chief complaint, according to Wildcats President Jessica Williams, was that several men streaked across the stage during the Wildcats' set and allegedly touched some of the women. In the letter, the Wildcats wrote, "Members of a fraternity with ties to the Penn Six-5000 and likely with the knowledge of the singing group ran naked across the stage during one of our songs. There was unwanted physical contact made between these men and two of our members." But according to Penn Six Business Director and Engineering junior Jake Peters, the group had no prior knowledge of the incident. "We had no idea that was going to happen," Peters said. "We were backstage, we heard the noise and we came, but we missed it." The Wildcats were also upset about several other incidents that occurred at the show -- their names in the show's program were listed as suggestive names such as "Heywood Jablomi" and "Mike Hunt," Penn Six alumni were allegedly loud and disrespectful during the Wildcats' performance and members of Penn Six came onstage in costume during the Wildcats' last song. Williams said that many of the incidents taken alone would not have bothered the group, but that the "combination of everything created a situation that made us feel uncomfortable." Penn Six Musical Director Andrew Tam, a Wharton sophomore, said that antics such as the made-up program were meant to be funny. "The names were completely farcical," he said. "In addition, they introduced themselves as those names." Peters added that Penn Six's alumni denied saying anything derogatory to the Wildcats. Penn Six also received mixed reviews for an appearance at Princeton on March 25, with Princeton a cappella group the Roaring 20. According to Williams, Penn Six's antics at that performance should have clued them in. Adam Friedlander, president of the Roaring 20, said that "the general a cappella community here is really pissed off." Friedlander also said that when Penn Six performed at Princeton, the members did some things the Roaring 20 felt were not "quite appropriate for the 11-year-old cousins in the audience," including using profanity and making jokes about masturbation. Peters said the response Penn Six received from the audience at the Roaring 20 show was "one of the most warm and welcome receptions from a road show. We didn't hear one negative thing about that show."

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