Male students dancing in bras, a professor of finance mouthing lyrics to the Backstreet Boys in a tight-fitting tank top and shirtless men dancing to “Your Body Is A Wonderland” were a few highlights of Fairfield University’s first annual Lip-Sync Battle.
The Lip-Sync Battle, which was held for the first time ever on March 28 at 9 p.m. in Alumni Hall, was part of the second-annual Charles F. Dolan School of Business Week of Service, which lasts from March 27 to 31. It was organized by Anthony Crasto ‘18, Joseph Pisano ‘18, Anthony Pope ‘18 and Brie Tancredi ‘17.
According to Pisano, they wanted to organize a lip-sync battle in response to an idea brought to assistant dean of the Dolan School of Business Dawn DeBiase by an undergraduate student.
There was a $1 nominating fee for the Lip-Sync Battle. Additionally, attendees paid $5 to attend the event.
Crasto explained that all of the proceeds went to the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, which was started by actor Paul Newman for terminally ill children.
Crasto and Pisano are co-chairing the Week of Service, which started with the Lip-Sync Battle.
Pope reported that the event was a great way for faculty and students to interact, since most events on campus are geared only toward students.
The event drew in a crowd of approximately 80 students, staff and faculty members.
Dean of the Dolan School of Business Donald Gibson was the host for the event and was decked out in a pair of shades and a cap.
Two student pairs, two individual students and four faculty and staff members were nominated as contestants by the Fairfield University community. Contestants included Dean DeBiase, who lip-synced “California Girls,” Assistant Professor of Finance Michael Puleo who lip-synced “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” and Robert Gonfiantini ‘20 who danced and lip-synced with friends to “Girls Just Want to Have Fun.”
In the final round, Tim Johnston ‘18 and Matthew Ragone ‘18 went head-to-head with Assistant Director of Undergraduate Admissions Corey Novak ‘13. Both opponents lip-synced “Single Ladies.”
The contestants’ performances were judged by a panel comprised of four faculty members who served as judges. One additional vote came from the audience, as audience members were able to vote through a website called VoxVote.
Junior Nick DeBiase, commented, “[My stepmom, DeBiase] did a great job and had a lot of fun with it. It was definitely funny to watch.”
Audience members often laughed and even gasped at the contest’s hilarity.
“Fairfield has a lot of traditions and we like to start new traditions so with this, we wanted to create a stable event that would hopefully become a new Fairfield tradition that new students for generations to come would enjoy,” Pope said.
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