More than 1,500 students crammed together, waiting in a long bar line and mingling with the opposite sex while a half-dozen police officers lingered outside.
Although it sounds like a typical night at Shooters II, many students said the place to be last Thursday was the Nasher Museum of Art's "Nasher Noir," a black-and-white-themed gala affair.
Even without a mechanical bull to attract them, students took advantage of a free-drink promotion and no cover charge while enjoying complimentary finger food and live jazz.
Many said it was a different type of Duke social event, drawing people who would never be seen at a fraternity party or off-campus club-including President Richard Brodhead.
"Seeing the student body rediscovering themselves in the context of the museum has been great fun," Brodhead said. He declined to comment on whether he viewed events like the Nasher Noir as an alternative to fraternity and sorority parties.
Some students, however, said the event was a welcome break from the traditional scene.
"If the administration wants to fix the social problems at Duke-the self-segregation, the lack of on-campus and safe social opportunities and the larger social ills of drunk driving... they should host these events every month," senior Megan Smith said.
Because of last week's Greek Week, no greek group was allowed to register an event during the weekend, and the Nasher had a virtual monopoly on the party circuit for at least one evening.
"We were able to draw from people who ordinarily might be split between a variety of different offerings," said senior Emily Rotberg, co-president of the Nasher Student Advisory Board and a Chronicle staff member.
She said many seniors were attracted by the free drink they were entitled to at the event. Organizers said they gave away 151 drinks in total to the Class of 2007.
"I talked to a lot of people who said, 'I've been meaning to come to the Nasher,'" Rotberg added.
Many attendees bypassed the museum's exhibits and concentrated on the complimentary food, the music and the horseshoe-shaped bar.
Still, the number of people who were exposed to the art was a positive thing, said student advisory board co-president Anne-Marie Angelo, a graduate student in history.
"We really didn't know how many people to expect," Angelo said.
Although the theme called for black-and-white attire, clothing ranged from lime-green T-shirts with gym shorts to full tuxedos to a complete Cat-in-the-Hat costume.
Several students used the word "chic" to describe the setting, which included elaborate flower displays and servers in upscale uniforms.
"I think this is very classy and very impressive, it's a good example of an event on campus that isn't centered around alcohol," senior Sophie Strike said, as she sipped her complimentary drink. "I mean, drinking alcohol doesn't mean centered around alcohol... we're not planning on getting drunk."
Angelo added that she saw many more graduate students at this event than at any previous Nasher party.
"I'm overwhelmed," she said. "We would love to do this more than once a semester."
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