Issue date: 10/30/09 Section: News

Sophomore physics major Mac Sampson watches as zombies attack the windows of the 24-hour study lounge in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union Thursday night. Students dressed as zombies for a Rhetoric Society of America fundraiser. (Eric Hiltner/The Daily Eastern News)

The flesh-eating, rotting corpses of the dead, splattered in blood invaded the University Ballroom of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Ballroom Thursday evening to dance with the dead.

With Halloween right around the corner, the Rhetoric Society of America experimented with the concept of a zombie walk/dance through discovering that other cities around the country were also involved in the tradition.

Kate Klipp, a communication studies graduate student, said that it took a major effort from other members of the RSA to make this happen.

"We're actually doing this for a fundraiser for the Rhetoric Society of America," Klipp said. "We're raising money for students of campuses around the country. It took a collaborative effort, including decorating the ballroom, gathering people from (The Daily Eastern News) and the radio station to get everyone together."

Klipp said she and other members of the RSA started the event because they saw how other cities participated in this event.

Joe Wheeler, a senior communications major, said there was careful preparation in planning the event like dealing with money issues and how much should be charged for students since it was for a fundraiser- decorations, deciding on music and movie clips, among other things.

The RSA posted information on a Facebook group, he said.

Wheeler has also started to become interested with the fascination of zombies.

Heather Roy, a senior communication studies major, said she was hanging up fliers to help facilitate advertising for the zombie walk.

"The flyers were really clever," Roy said. "The route wasn't hard. We left it up to members of RSA and planned it depending on the amount of traffic in the area."

The evening's environment was nothing short of dead with low attendance, but was high spirits for those that showed up beyond the grave.

Jose Gonzalez can be reached at 581-7942 or at jlgonzalez@eiu.edu.

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