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members hand out flyers on Locust Walk for their annual Big Man on Campus fundraiser. The event is taking place at the Trocadero this year, which has almost double the capacity of last year's venue.

A year after students clashed with police and two were arrested at a popular sorority event, organizers are taking steps to avoid a repeat incident.

Alpha Chi Omega's Big Man on Campus will be held tonight at the Trocadero Theatre, an Old City venue almost twice as large as last year's, giving students a little more elbow room.

BMOC will also include a junior pre-show, which will hopefully result in more staggered audience arrivals, sorority president and Wharton senior Katie Ossman said.

"We hope that we will not have a huge crowd arriving at once because there's more going on earlier in the evening," Ossman said.

Last year, an estimated 400 to 600 people gathered outside the event, and police were called to the scene to help disperse the crowd.

Several altercations between students and police resulted. Two students were arrested, and several others were detained and later released.

This is the seventh annual BMOC, and proceeds will benefit Women Against Abuse, an organization that provides services to battered women and children.

Eleven senior men will participate in the pageant-style competition, and six junior men will compete in the pre-show. A panel of judges picks the winner.

Last year, BMOC was held at World Cafe Live, located at 3025 Walnut St., which has a standing capacity of 700 on its lower floor.

But Ossman does not think such problems will come up at the Trocadero, which has a capacity of 1200 and is located at 1003 Arch St.

Ossman was not sure how many tickets had been sold, but expects a crowd of about 600 to 800 students, which is typical for the event.

The staff of the Trocadero includes 13 security guards, who will try to ensure that the line of students entering the venue keeps moving, Ossman said.

"The staff is used to handling large concert crowds," she said.

College senior Nick Hughes was outside World Cafe Live last year when the police arrived. As he tried to cross the street to get away from the crowd, a police officer "tackled [him] from behind and chocked [him] with a nightstick," he said.

Hughes does not plan to attend this year's BMOC, but it's not because he's worried about police problems. He said he doesn't anticipate the same thing happening again because from what he saw, last year's incident was just a small conflict that escalated quickly.

"I wouldn't expect it again," Hughes said. "I'm sure AXO is taking all the necessary precautions."

However, College senior Loren Appin, who plans to attend BMOC tonight, said he had some doubts because of how out of hand things got last year.

But he said he's been to the Trocadero before, and since he knows it's a larger area, he feels comfortable going.

"Obviously, if they mess up this year, that's just ridiculous," Appin said.

This year's event has a "prison break" theme, but Ossman said that this stems from the popular TV show and is not meant to refer to what happened last year.

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