On Wednesday, Student Association President and senior Haleema Murtaza made the difficult decision to vote down funding for the spring concert. The Lamron supports Murtaza in her choice and encourages continued financial responsibility on the part of the SA executive board.
The semi-annual Activities Commission concerts have brought in acts both commercially and critically successful, and a concert which brings together a large portion of the campus elicits campus pride and is worth subsidizing if the loss is predictable and reasonable.
Intentionally running a complete and total loss on a concert that requires drawing from last resort SA reserves, however, would have been an irresponsible allocation of student fees. The executive board purports to represent the student body, and this year, actions spoke louder than words. We, by and large, reject the assertion that economic woes or swine flu concerns had a major impact on ticket sales last semester - we believe that the demographics and interests of our evolving student body no longer support the economics of recruiting nationally recognized musical acts.
Should, upon a careful and genuine assessment of student interest, SA and AC find that there still exists a sizeable number of students who would be willing to give their time and money to attend a large-scale entertainment event, moving ahead with plans for a traditional concert may be feasible.
Even without a spring concert, there is no lack of entertainment on campus. The standing committees of SA, along with other student organizations, already do an impressive job of bringing a variety of performers to the college. Furthermore, Geneseo students themselves are ambitious and talented, and have consistently put on polished and professional shows.
It may well be that the days of the large-scale concert at Geneseo are over, but it's not a decision that should be made lightly or hastily. Murtaza's decision to make the concert free in the fall was sound because so many of the associated costs were nonrefundable - however, to knowingly pour money into a concert that has no chance of recuperating any of the required investment betrays the trust of fee-paying students.
Until the SA executive board has the time and resources to seriously consider the palette of options available, let it not exploit the funds it does have available in reserve.