Battle of Which Bands?

To the Editors of The Crimson:

I am a junior at Harvard University and until recently I had little interest in the Undergraduate Student Council. I was not thrilled by their use of student money, but I was willing to concede that $10 per person was a small sacrifice to make for the common good of the Harvard student body. I assumed that they would handle all their projects in an ethical and equitable manner. I was mistaken.

This weekend we saw some of the first poisonous fruits of their labor. The Undergraduate Student Council initiated and agreed to sponsor a "Battle of the Bands" competition. Rather than attempting to audition bands, listen to tapes, or at least give band members a chance to lobby for their own bands, they made secretive and arbitrary choices. They simply picked five bands that they had heard of. Did it ever occur to these student council members that there are many more than five bands on campus that they did not bother to consider? Can they honestly tell us that these are the five premier bands on campus when they have not heard a note of music from any other bands?

Several bands were completely excluded from the selection process. Why did the Student Council not publicize this event in November or December? Didn't they have enough interest to try to make certain that they got all the best possible bands? With each band making at least $100 and gaining good exposure, participation in the Battle of the Bands contest is a substantial reward. But what are these bands being rewarded for? What did they do to deserve this reward?

This is not the only problem with this contest. The Crimson itself reported that the handling of the selection of contest judges was controversial. I think there is good reason to be concerned when a student council official who is also a member of "The Girl Next Door," arguably the most popular group on campus, is given sole responsibility for judge selection. Taking all this into consideration, it is difficult to believe that the council is as concerned about an "ethics problem" as their chairman claims. As regards the band "contest," if the council wishes to maintain a clean image, why not hold a contest open to all Harvard rock groups.

I do not play in a band and I have no personal stake in this "contest," but I am disillusioned by the actions of a council that has thousands of student dollars to work with but has yet to learn how to use them fairly. Royce E. Oliver III '84