The ENC community united as one to cheer on the men’s basketball team on Feb. 19, the team’s first home playoff game in more than a decade.

Students, decked out in red clothing and face paint, were informed beforehand that they would take part in a Harlem Shake video during halftime. Over the past few weeks, the Harlem Shake has become popular among colleges—appearing all over Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube—and students were excited to take part in the craze.

It wasn’t just students who appeared in the video, though; they were joined by faculty members such as professor Bill McCoy, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Linda Scott, and Chaplain Corey MacPherson (they unsuccessfully attempted to coax Athletic Director Dr. Nancy Detwiler into participating).

Junior Steven Rodriguez organized the video just a day before he was elected as the next director of publicity for Student Government Association.

“I thought that if ENC had their own version of it, people would have something funny to watch and share with family back home,” said Rodriguez.

Rodriguez obtained approval within one hour’s time. He first sought approval from Dr. Vern Wesley, then Information Sports Director Rob Rossi, and finally Dr. Detwiler.

There is no doubt that the Harlem Shake video was an enjoyable and unifying moment for the ENC community, but some students were left puzzled. ENC prohibits dancing, so why was the dance video approved by administration?

“Technically, I approved the making of a 30-second video that featured some dancing. I knew from seeing it on YouTube that it was crazy and a bit odd more than it was a dance,” said Dr. Wesley.

He continued, “If it had been an event featuring dancing, it would not have been approved. This was more like a film production for a commercial than a social dance event. And what safer place could we do it than in our own gym?”

ENC students and faculty certainly had fun making the video (which has so far been shared on Facebook by more than 120 people, with more than 2,600 views on YouTube) as they cheered the men’s basketball team to a victory over Salve Regina.

“I have done a lot of videos before and I felt like no one had ever done something like this here at ENC. Since we had such an amazing school spirit when the men’s basketball team was in the playoffs, I felt that this video would remind a lot of students of the time [when] we all came together and finally supported each other,” concluded Rodriguez.