Students from Columbia and Roosevelt University joined together for the chance to find love at “BSU Pop the Balloon.” 

Columbia and Roosevelt University’s Black Student Unions collaborated on the event, which took place on Wednesday, March 18 at 1104 S. Wabash Ave.

The event was inspired by content creator Arlette Amuli’s popular YouTube series-turned Netflix show, “Pop the Balloon or Find Love,” where individuals are evaluated by a panel of other singles with balloons. If any of the panel members aren’t interested in the person being evaluated, they can pop their balloon. 

Columbia’s BSU president Raymia Jones Fowler, a junior film and television major, said the BSU E-board came up with the idea to parody the YouTube series and the organization then decided to collaborate with neighboring schools.

“It was really simple, I already knew the BSU president from Roosevelt, so I reached out to him, then they reached out to people they knew from different schools,” Fowler said. 

The original series on Netflix has received moderate backlash for promoting toxic dating behaviors. Fans also criticized the series for feeling “gentrified” after moving to the streaming platform.

Fowler emphasized that this event was made for the culture, since the original show primarily features African Americans. 

“To be able to come to a space and have a place where you can meet other Black students, collaborate and have our own culture is great,” Fowler said. 

Roosevelt’s campus culture has many differences from Columbia’s, including the presence of Greek Life. Many of the contestants from neighboring schools were a part of Greek organizations from the “Divine Nine,” nine historically African American fraternities and sororities, originally created to provide community and support for Black students facing racial discrimination and exclusion from white Greek organizations. 

The event consisted of five rounds alternating a panel of male and female volunteers from Columbia, Roosevelt and Loyola University. 

Each round allowed the main bachelor to ask questions to the panel of bachelorettes and vice versa, while also allowing crowd engagement, encouraging audience members to ask the contestants questions as well. 

Sophomore film and television major Kaylynn Smiley attended the event because she was interested in seeing how it would differ from the original show. 

At first, Smiley had no intention of participating as a bachelorette, but she was drawn to some of the bachelors and decided to take a chance. 

“I’ve been single for a long time, so why not?” Smiley said. 

Smiley enjoyed the experience, but was slightly thrown off by how prevalent talk of religion was amongst bachelors, saying she felt it overpowered the chance to actually get to know someone’s character.

Despite not finding her match, Smiley commended the bachelors for their respectfulness and ability to deal with rejection. 

“You don’t usually see that a lot and everyone handled the rejection well,” she said.

Throughout the event, the hosts took time to honor the Divine Nine organizations, playing popular songs the groups “stroll” to. Strolling is a synchronized dance that members of Divine Nine fraternities and sororities perform as a symbol of community and pride. 

Sophomore fashion studies major Justin Cruz found out about this event through his girlfriend, but he was excited to connect with the Black community at Columbia. 

“The only way someone could view it as a negative thing is if they’re stereotypical because this is mad fun,” Cruz said. 

Cruz enjoyed the atmosphere and community of the event, especially with the collaboration between the two schools. 

“It was really nice seeing some new faces. This was one of the more exciting BSU events I’ve been to,” Cruz said. 

Sophomore marketing major Rhaniyah Price attended this event for the sense of culture. 

“It was really about coming together with my people,” Price said. 

Despite the backlash against the original series, Price said this event is a great way to bring people together and show Black culture, especially coming from an art school.

“It depends on how people go about it, as long as you respect opinions and beliefs everything will be fine,” Price said.

Price enjoyed the collaboration of the two schools, especially due to Black students being a smaller community at both Columbia and Roosevelt. Black students make up about 20% of all students at both institutions.

“It felt like one even though we come from different schools,” she said.

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