The Central Black Student Union’s Cotton Club After-Party was cancelled Saturday night after fights broke out in the line outside of the Campus Recreation Center East, where the event was held.

The street outside the event was flooded with police cars as officers from different police agencies arrived to help clear out the nearly 1,200 people attending the event, said Lt. David Nelson of the University’s police department.

Police decided to shut the event down after staff, students and police could not regain control of the line, Nelson said.

Femi Masha, social action chair of the Central Black Student Union and one of the event’s organizers, said all problems took place outside of the building.

There were two lines into the event: one for University students and another for guests. The student line was empty, but the other line remained long.

Masha said the main cause of the conflict was fighting between the members of two greek organizations. He said none of the members involved were from the University’s chapters.

Both Masha and Nelson cited cold temperatures as part of the reason for the line’s unrest.

William Bonsu, also known as DJ Bonsu, worked at the event and said everything inside was peaceful.

“Everybody just wanted to have a good time, and it’s unfortunate that something happened outside to mess that up,” he said.

Bonsu said that while things inside were tense after it was announced that everyone had to leave, no real issues arose.

“People were kind of upset because they were being blamed for what was happening outside,” he said.

Event organizers were planning to send half of the guests to the empty line for students when police decided to end the event, Masha said.

The event was an after-party for the Cotton Club Awards, a talent/variety show sponsored by the Central Black Student Union. Tickets were $10 for students and $12 for non-students, and Masha said a meeting was planned with their advisers for Sunday evening to discuss what happened and the potential for refunds.

Shannon Anderson, freshman in LAS, said she was only at the party for a few minutes before the lights went on and the party was cleared out. She said she thinks she deserves a refund.

“The party hadn’t even really begun and everybody deserves to get a refund,” she said. “It’s really ticking me off.”

Masha said he was disappointed that negative events such as these garner so much attention while more positive programs in the black community go unheeded.

“I didn’t see any DI coverage (of those events), but when altercations like this occur I get a call the very next day,” he said.