Council Plans Barbecue, Concert

Members of the Undergraduate Council celebrated their apparent victory last night in winning administration approval for what some estimated would be the first council event in six years to feature alcohol—a barbecue slated this Tuesday for the Quad.

The council also voted on a list of bands, including Outkast and Justin Timberlake, to be considered as candidates for a council-sponsored concert next fall.

The barbecue, approved two weeks ago on the stipulation that alcohol be served, will be held Tuesday from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Quad.

Council member Michael S. Gerrity ’05, who proposed the event—originally slated for last week—initially said he thought the barbecue was “highly unlikely” to happen because of the short planning schedule for the event and the administration’s traditional opposition to alcohol at council-sponsored events.

He said the proposal to serve alcohol at the barbecue had symbolic significance, making a public stand against the administration’s anti-alcohol stance.

But in recent days, the council managed to allay the fears of skeptical administrators, members said.

“We just kept meeting with them,” said council Vice President Jessica R. Stannard-Friel ’04, who called the barbecue “a great first step.”

Stannard-Friel said administrators were worried about student safety and about drunk students disturbing their neighbors.

She said the council responded to these concerns with a compromise on the amount of alcohol to be served.

“I’m more than happy to have the event,” Stannard-Friel said.

She said a successful barbecue will facilitate the council’s efforts to host more events with alcohol in the future.

“They’re going to understand we can have an event with alcohol and people won’t get killed,” said council Campus Life Committee Chair Michael R. Blickstead ’05.

After rubber-stamping the final round of grants for this semester, the council approved two major events for the fall—the big concert promised to students after no headliner band was brought to Springfest, and a Fallfest which council members said would feature a band.

The council passed a long list of acceptable acts for its fall concert, ranging in style from 50 Cent to Weezer and in price from $10,000 (Blackalicious) to $100,000 (Outkast).

Council President Rohit Chopra ’04 said the council is likely to spend between $40,000 and $60,000 on the fall concert.

Chopra said he hopes to host the event early in the term, when the weather will be better.

The council also allocated $10,000 toward a band at the coming Fallfest, which will take a different shape next semester.

“We’re moving away from student groups toward a more concert scene,” Blickstead said.

He said the band should be “a smaller headliner, someone students can have fun listening to.”

Not all council members were happy with the proposed changes for Fallfest.

“The UC is becoming the throw-money-down-manholes club,” said council member Jason L. Lurie ’05, who decried the allocation of $10,000 “for a band nobody is ever going to know.”

The council also passed a resolution advocating a change in the time student posters are taken down—from 8:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Council Student Affairs Committee (SAC) Vice Chair Sheila R. Adams ’05 said an e-mail poll revealed that 78 percent of students favored a change in the poster take-down time.

She said the change in time should take effect in November on a trial basis.

Adams said some students voiced concerns that a later poster-removal time would mean that more people would be competing for limited space on campus bulletin boards and kiosks.

But Adams argued that students would ultimately benefit from a later postering time.

“I think the inconvenience of having to wake up early outweighs the inconvenience of extra competition,” she said.

Adams added that more sandwich boards might temporarily alleviate the possible crunch for space.

Later, council members proposed creating a common grant application for student groups seeking funding.

The application could be used to apply for council grants as well as other funding organizations such as the Ann Radcliffe Trust and the Office for the Arts.

Council Finance Committee Chair Joshua A. Barro ’05, who co-sponsored the bill with council member Mary Ellen R. Player ’04, said the common application will mean less work for student groups seeking funding.

In other business, the council resolved to upgrade the software for its online UC Marketplace and approved a resolution to encourage Faculty members to put sourcebook content on the library system’s e-reserve system, which is free to students.

After completing its scheduled business, council executives made some year-end remarks and the council said goodbye to its senior members.