G-Unit and company not a concern for campus security
posted: April 05, 2005
Recent rioting at a G-Unit concert held at the Roanoke Civic Center has not stopped university officials from allowing the rap group to give a performance at Tech.
Sam Healy
News Assistant
Young Buck, Lil' Scrappy and Lloyd Banks, all members of the rap group G-Unit, will perform at Virginia Tech April 27, and tickets are already on sale. With some of their lyrics promoting violence and the attacking of police officers, the group will bring along a controversial past.
The rap group performed at the Roanoke Civic Center last November, where a near riot broke out and officials say Young Buck shoved a police officer. Young Buck was accused a few days later of stabbing 26-year-old Jimmy James Johnson at the Vibe Music Awards.
The Black Student Alliance and the Virginia Tech Union conceived the idea for the concert.
Mark Owczarski, university spokesman, said when the university went over its usual event background check it saw no reason for safety concerns.
"We check with other campuses that have hosted the group and check with booking agencies,"? Owczarski said. "G-Unit has a track record of entertaining and safe shows at other college campuses."?
After reviewing and assessing safety concerns, Owczarski said Tech felt it could safely and adequately host the event.
Nicki Cantrell, director of Student Activities, said concerts at Tech are always big events and have to be handled in a particular way.
She said that just like any other concert, Student Activities will work with the Virginia Tech Police Department to ensure students' safety.
"When we discover an event is chosen, we contact the Virginia Tech Police Department and do a background check of the date and time of the concert and find out how many officers we need for the event,"? she said.
Between eight and 12 security officers are scheduled to be on duty for the G-Unit concert, she said.
"This is a normal number of security officers for any concert,"? she said. "Concerts always have a lot more security than speakers."?
Cantrell added that students should expect the same safety as any other concert Tech has hosted in the past.
"We believe it will be a very regular concert,"? she said. "I hope the students enjoy the show."?
The BSA was unable to comment at press time.
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