As the sun set over Rice Auditorium Monday night, members of greek houses and independents alike went crazy over scantily clad candidates vying for the title of Mr. BU. Monday evening in Rice Auditorium.

The moon, and perhaps the audience, grew hazy Wednesday as members of greek organizations gave their best lip-synced impersonations of famous rockers and rollers.

The series of events such as these, seen around campus throughout the week, were all part of the annual spring tradition, greek week.

After months of planning, Baker University Greek Council, Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic Council have held events each day throughout the week to raise not only greek unity but also student activity throughout greek week.

The week kicked off Monday morning as each of the greek organizations on Baker’s campus hung a banner across the front of its house, portraying the week’s theme — “when the sun goes down and the moon gets hazy, that’s the week the greeks go crazy.”

The competition is one of numerous events during the week for which fraternities and sororities were given points toward the greek week competition. Director of Student Activity Shelby Coxon said the points are partially for participation and the rest for winning the various competitions. Shelby said the point divisions were made to encourage participation.

Later that evening, Panhellenic sponsored the annual Mr. BU pageant.

Members of various campus organizations either participated or elected a male student to participate in a number of contests to determine the ultimate Baker hottie. The proceeds of about $650 were split to go to Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Douglas Co. and the Douglas Co. Fairy Godmother Fund, an organization that grants wishes for children with needs.

After a choreographed dance, a swimsuit competition, a contest for best pick-up line and a formal-dress section which included a question, ten contestants were named finalists and went on to perform in the talent portion of the pageant.

Sophomore Kelly Ochs said said the talent competition was the most amusing part of the pageant with humorous talents like those of freshman Kolby Lanning on a pogo stick, but she joked that the articles of clothing flying off stage didn’t hurt.

“It was good amusement,” she said. “It was just really funny, and it went for a good cause. The best part was the talent portion, especially the pogo stick part.”

However, junior Cory Venable, who was later named Mr. BU, said the experience was completely different as a contestant.

“I would have much rather seen Mr. BU from backstage than out in the audience. People were really funny,” he said. “Everyone was really nice, and I got to meet some people I had never known before.”

Venable performed an untitled song he had written especially for the occasion, though he said he didn’t feel as though he deserved the title, particularly after his performance in the opening dance.

“If there’s video footage of it, I’ll be the worst on stage,” he said. “I thought other people definitely had better talent than I did.”

Yet as a Baldwin City citizen, he said he was still proud of his title.

“I felt like I was representing Baldwin City right nice,” he said. “I doubt a townie has ever won it.”

Coxon said the pageant went well and had a good turnout with almost 80 percent of the auditorium filled.

The week continued Tuesday with the Rock-a-Thon. The event featured members of each greek organization rocking in a rocking chair for eight hours of the day. The purpose of the rocking greeks was to raise money for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital by placing buckets in front of the individual rockers and by encouraging members of the greek system to raise money individually.

“Just from eye-balling it, it looked like we had a good response,” Coxon said. “We had them out there rocking away.”

The amount raised from the Rock-a-Thon had not been counted as of press time as individual contributions were due Wednesday afternoon.

Wednesday’s all-greek barbecue continued the week as the Kappa Sigma fraternity welcomed the greek community to their house for the dinner.

Later that evening, members of Baker’s fraternities and sororities performed at the Air Band Competition.

The evening featured such acts as the dance number to “Phi Mu Get Low,” a hip-hop ode to the Baker sorority and ’80s-style rock routine to “Love is a Battlefield” by Pat Benatar.

The greek honors banquet was scheduled to be held Thursday.

“With the awards banquet, it’s just a time to pat ourselves on the backs and recognize what we’ve done throughout the year,” Coxon said.

The banquet will feature guest speaker Will Keim, a national greek speaker and winner of the 2001 Jack Anson Award by the Association of Fraternity Advisors for his contributions to greek life in both America and Canada, which is also a change from the past.

“There’s been speakers,” Coxon said. “It’s never been somebody outside of Baker, I don’t think.”

The final event of the week will be a greek trip to the Royals’ baseball game against the Oakland Athletics at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.

Coxon said greek council would have liked to have an all-greek dance but was unable to raise funds. She said the funding for the events that were held came from contributions by Panhellenic and IFC, Student Development and the Baker University Student Senate.

However, the events were encouraged to support greek participation and greek unity, Coxon said.

Senior Ryan Kuhn, who served as president of greek council during the planning process, said he was hopeful greek week could expand from previous years.

“Overall, I think people felt greek week wasn’t as big of a deal or as accessible as it could have been, so we decided to add some new events,” he said. “We hoped to promote greek life as a whole and to highlight some of the achievements of the greek houses on campus.”

Kuhn said the addition of the Rock-a-Thon, air band competition and the Royals night made at least one greek-week event each day, which has not been the case in years gone by.

Sophomore Jessica Uhler, who served on greek council as a freshman, said she found the changes to be an improvement.

“We were just stuck with ideas,” she said. “We couldn’t think of anything anyone would go to, and very few people did go. I think this year, they did a good job of scheduling events that would be fun to attend and participate in.”

Junior Jon Xenos, who has been president of greek council since April 11, said he would like to continue with the improvement and expansion of the week.

“I plan on seeing how the students react to the changes we have made and the events and maybe next year, make changes in order to get the maximum amount of participation possible because these kind of events are what’s really going to help unite the greek system,” he said.

Coxon said the changes to greek week have already improved the events and the general sentiment during the celebration of greek life on Baker’s campus.

“Everybody seems to be really enjoying themselves and having a good time,” she said. “This week, I’ve had some really positive feedback.”