University's silence outplays music

Of the few campus-wide events offered at Yale, the most prominent is Spring Fling, where the main attraction is the musical guest. In past years, the Yale College Council (YCC) has managed to attract such well-known groups as the Indigo Girls, They Might Be Giants, and The Lemonheads to campus.

ERIN I. LEWIS/YH

Given these previous successes, it's not surprising that much of the student body had high expectations for this year's event. Spring Fling Chair Joey Lee, SY '03, circulated a poll designed to gauge student opinion during the week before Thanksgiving break. The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Barenaked Ladies, Dave Matthews Band, and the Rolling Stones were among the the most popular choices.

But none of those groups will be playing at Yale come April. In their place, the YCC is in negotiation with folk musician Ben Harper, a choice that has left many students perplexed. "Most people I know haven't even heard of him," Chris Fleitas, PC '03, said.

Spring Fling, along with the upcoming Tercentennial events, has raised questions about the University's commitment to large, campus-unifying events and has renewed concerns over Yale's lack of a student center.

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Despite undergraduates' lofty aspirations for Spring Fling entertainment, the YCC often has difficulty attracting more well-known bands without the University's support. "We knew that to get the big names, we needed money, connections—and a lot of luck," Lee said. Because of the Tercentennial celebration this year, Don Filer, an associate secretary in the Administration, was appointed to represent the University and assist the YCC in negotiations with bands. According to Filer, his involvement brought "the active endorsement of the Yale Administration, and the knowledge that the University would welcome the band along with the students." Perhaps just as important, Filer's involvement represented extra money from the Administration that could be offered to prospective performers. When the YCC negotiates the contract alone, "money is always the limiting factor," YCC Treasurer Vid Prabhakaran, MC '03, said.

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While Filer began negotiating with some of the bigger bands, Lee looked into "smaller, more affordable groups" such as Live and Blink 182. But because any bid submitted by the YCC for a band would have been binding, Lee was forced to await the outcome of Filer's search. By January, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Barenaked Ladies, and Dave Matthews Band had announced that they would not perform at Yale, though the possibility still existed that Matthews would come and give an acoustic concert. Meanwhile, Lee and the YCC had been unable to act for approximately two to three weeks while waiting on word from the Administration.

Factors such as the Yale name, performance space requirements, and the date of the event hindered both Filer's and the YCC's attempts to negotiate a contract. And eventually, Filer's office left the search up to Lee's committee, which selected Ben Harper based on the November student polls.

But on the weekend of Spring Fling, students at the University of Virginia (UVA) will be enjoying the Dave Matthews Band, live. While numerous factors, including Matthews' background with the area, helped UVA get the band, the university's involvement in the process was critical. "The university took a unique position to help ensure the success of the show," Brian Ahern, Jr., executive coordinator of UVA's University Programs Council, said, adding that the university performed "much of the negotiating with the band."

Spring Fling is meant to be a campus-unifying event—as YCC President Libby Smiley, JE '02, put it, "Events like Spring Fling should bring students together." And Lee added, "The day is meant to bring students out of their shells." The seemingly divisive choice of Harper as the Spring Fling artist seems to raise rather than solve questions about the University's involvement with, and commitment to, major campus events.

One of the problems facing the YCC's attempt to book a band for Spring Fling is the lack of an appropriate facility. Matthews' representatives requested an indoor performance space, but according to both Lee and Smiley, Yale simply does not possess the indoor seating capacity to accommodate the entire undergraduate student body. Lee noted that Woolsey Hall seats at most 2,000 students—less than half the required size. "We didn't want to put it in any venue where the entire population couldn't come," Smiley said. "To cap admission would be contrary to the goal of Spring Fling." As Lee noted, "The YCC also discussed having the show in the New Haven Coliseum, but that plan would require bus transportation and other logistical considerations."

Yale has long toyed with the notion of building a student center that would provide a multi-purpose space for events such as these. Yale College Dean Richard Brodhead, BK '68, GRD '72, recalled that such a project was high on the agenda at the time of his appointment in the fall of 1993. Then, a student's ID card would only grant him access to his own residential college, limiting the amount of shared space available to undergraduates as well as the level of interaction between students from different colleges, which provided additional motivation for a common space. Now, Brodhead insists, much of the need for such a building has disappeared, especially since the change in the electronic gate system now allows any student access to all the residential colleges. "There's really been very little pressure for a student center in recent years," Brodhead said.

But while students may be able to move more freely about campus today, the dearth of common space has yet to be resolved, and more campus-wide events have felt the crunch. Sam Frank, MC '02, the WYBC program director and music director for 1340-AM, Yale's undergraduate radio station, is one of the coordinators of MusicFest, a free on-campus concert that is sponsored by WYBC and usually held on the Saturday before Spring Fling. In the past, Pierson has played host to the event, but as Frank noted, a residential college is hardly the ideal setting for such a concert. "Whenever you try to tie any type of performance, especially loud music, to places where people live and work, it's inherently problematic," he said. "Music disturbs people, stuff gets stolen—there is something to be said for colleges being reserved for members of that college." As a result of such logisitical problems, this year's event will be happening on a much smaller scale. "If Yale had a dedicated concert venue, the Magnetic Fields would be playing here on [Sat., Apr. 21], certainly," Frank said.

In addition to MusicFest, other events and even undergraduate organizations are constantly vying for space in residential colleges. "As the college with the biggest common room, we get asked to host an awful lot of events, and they inevitably take a heavy toll on the furniture and floors," Silliman Dean Hugh Flick, said. "A lot of organizations not based in a particular residential college end up having office space or meetings in college basements. This takes away from the college's ability to use that space for its own students." In the end, Flick said, "Wear and tear has to come out of Silliman's operating budget."

As for the lack of spaces dedicated to undergraduate groups, Brodhead responded, "There are so many more student organizations now that whenever you create space, you're going to need more." But he was also quick to point out Yale's investment in such projects as the Off-Broadway theater and the new student space above Urban Outfitters. In particular, Brodhead noted that the latter will provide permanent homes for several undergraduate organizations and also cater to groups that just need a flexible space for meeting and storing files.

Furthermore, Brodhead maintained that a centralized entity would be "ill-conceived at Yale and contradict the residential college system." But many feel that the residential college system, despite its merits, can not replace a campus-wide space. "To say we're going to put all our resources into glorified dorms without acknowledging that Yale exists as one community rather than 12 seems strange; it precludes certain events that would be intended for the entire Yale community," Frank said. Smiley agreed, stating that "a student center would enhance campus-wide events and supplement the residential colleges, not detract from them."

Much like Spring Fling, Yale's Tercentennial celebration provides an opportunity for the Administration to reach out to undergraduates and provide a unifying experience. While the celebration spans more than a year and includes several major weekend-long events, the upcoming April festivities will be, for the most part, closed to students.

Instead, the weekend is geared toward alumni, with expected appearances by Gary Trudeau, DC '70, Tom Wolfe, GRD '57, George H.W. Bush, DC '48, and possibly even Bill Clinton, LAW '73. But University Provost Alison Richard felt such criticisms were off-base. "I don't think that's fair," she said. "Many of the Tercentennial events have been thrown open to the entire community—that includes undergraduates, faculty, and staff." She also added that the weekend in April is the "only event to which undergrads are not invited. That weekend is supposed to give a taste of Yale to alumni." More importantly, the same space limitations that hindered Spring Fling and other campus events were present here as well. "There's quite simply a limit on the room available," she said.

Further, although University Secretary and Vice President of the Tercentennial Steering Committee Linda Lorimer admits that the weekend in April is a "program organized for the alumni leadership," she emphasized that "the celebration is not all for alumni—guests will includes current and former trustees, those on the University council, presidents of Yale clubs around the country, and Yale class officers." She also stated that the goal of the weekend is "to do something special to thank its alumni at the Tercentennial," adding that "even with a focus oriented on alumni we are working hard to make sure that students have some access to all events."

Smiley, who is the undergraduate liaison to the Tercentennial planning committee, was also quick to come to the University's defense, pointing out that "different weekends of the Tercentennial are geared toward different people." She explained, "The first weekend was for the community and the city of New Haven, while the second is mainly for alumni." Smiley noted that "undergraduates were not necessarily the focus of the first two weekends," but added that the University is planning another Tercentennial weekend for next October that will be targeted at the undergraduate community.

Indeed, Janet Lindner, director of the Tercentennial and major projects, explained that the culmination of Tercentennial events will be that weekend of Fri., Oct. 5 through Sun., Oct. 7, which she claimed "is geared towards those of us who study and work on campus." Among the activities planned, Lindner said, are "an Oct. 5 morning convocation, an evening celebration on Cross Campus with music, dance, and a laser show, a symposium on leadership, and an Oct. 6 football game." Furthermore, Lindner stated, "We hope to have the three former presidents and the current president at both the April and October weekends."

Without a common space, student frustrations with campus-wide events—or the lack thereof—remain. "I really wish we had more events for the entire undergraduate community, like Spring Fling, to bring the entire student body together," Smiley said.

And without any plans for a student center in the future, questions linger about the University's commitment to campus unity. Some feel that without such a space, even the events that exist now will continue to wane. "Give people a place to play and the scene will rise to the occasion," Frank said, referring to on-campus concerts and music festivals. Describing a central performance space for students as a "pipe dream," Frank noted, "Bands have just improvised throughout. No one in the rock community tries to pursue a space, but they might if they thought it was possible."

Nevertheless, Spring Fling planners remain optimistic that the University's one major campus-wide event of the year will still be a positive experience, despite the lack of a high-profile artist. "I totally understand the frustration," Prabhakaran said. "A lot of people feel slighted." But Lee added, "I always looked at Spring Fling as a fun day with awesome music. The point is to get people out with an amazing show from someone who'll play good music; it will be a campus-unifying event."

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