Students compete to be Big Man on Campus

With the exception of what some spectators described as too much “man-thigh,” this year’s Big Man On Campus competition went off without a hitch.

Tuesday night, the Alpha Chi Omega sorority held its annual BMOC philanthropy event ­— a competition that pits 12 senior and six junior men against each other for the title of “BMOC.” The money raised goes to AXO’s national philanthropy, Women Against Domestic Violence.

BMOC is divided into two categories of contestants, juniors and seniors. After each contestant was introduced, the men in each class year competed against each other in a talent competition, which mostly consisted of dance acts. The winners were chosen by a panel of judges, which was comprised of current students and alumni.

The title of Junior BMOC went to College junior Will Davis, while College senior Ryan Levan claimed the title of Senior BMOC. Second and third place in the senior category went to College senior Danny O’Brien and Wharton senior Justin Clouden, respectively.

The event also featured performances by dance group Strictly Funk and the a cappella group Penny Loafers.

This year’s event went smoothly, signaling a break from some issues that plagued the event in the past.

In 2005, a fight broke out between students and police at World Cafe Live on the eastern edge of Penn’s campus, the venue that hosted the event that year. The altercation, which involved between 400 and 600 students, resulted in two arrests.

Since the incident in 2005, BMOC has been held at the Trocadero Theatre in Center City. The Trocadero holds 500 more people than World Cafe Live, eliminating the space problems that caused the debacle in 2005.

Further problems arose last year — the event was nearly cancelled at the last minute when the sorority was almost put on administrative warning by the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs.

But College senior and event organizer Jessica Yeager said this year’s event was a huge success.

“Because of the complications last year, we were very careful about making sure everything was in order with the OFSA and the Vice Provost for Student Life,” she said.

Yeager said that, although AXO is not sure of the exact amount of money raised yet, they estimated that the total is near $8,000.

Yeager also said the event’s success was heavily dependent on the competitors.

“The boys worked really hard, practiced daily and really took BMOC seriously,” she explained. “We couldn’t have done it without them.”

*This article was updated at 12:20 p.m. on 11/18/09 to reflect the fact that Justin Clouden, not Justin Biggs, was the third-place winner of the BMOC competition.

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