Security concerns relocate Ludacris concert to Coliseum

Originally planned for Yellow Jacket Park, this year ' s Sting Break concert, which took place last night, was moved to the Alexander Memorial Coliseum due to concerns about possible security problems.

According to Matt Trinetti, chair of the Student Center Programs Council Concerts Committee, the committee in charge of planning the annual event, both the Georgia Tech Police Department and the private security company hired to police the concert raised concerns over the Ludacris concert being in Yellow Jacket Park due to the openness of the space.

GTPD and the security company were both concerned about people not affiliated with Tech flocking to campus and trying to get into the concert.

" With a name like Ludacris, especially with him being a local artist, we knew that people would probably hear about it through word of mouth, " Trinetti said. " Since we are downtown . anyone could come if they wanted if it was outside. Since [Yellow Jacket Park] is right in the middle of campus, and it is open all around it . even if they can ' t get into the gate, they would still be around. "

The committee looked into possibly increasing security enough to keep the concert in Yellow Jacket Park; however, the needed equipment would have been too costly.

" We would need an incredible amount of fencing . which was not in our budget, " Trinetti said.

Another concern that helped prompt the move was the weather. With the forecast predicting rain, event planners felt that it was the right choice to move the Ludacris concert inside.

The move to the Coliseum also created added costs for the event, some of which the committee is still working to cover.

According to Trinetti, there is the possibility that some of the money could come out of the budget for Student Center Programs Council, which could possibly affect the funding for future Student Center events.

Since the inception of Sting Break, the annual concert has been held at a different location each time, ranging from the Campanile to the lawn area outside the Instructional Center.

The last time a major student concert was held in the Coliseum was Ben Folds Five in 1999. Event planners had also originally hoped for general seating at the concert. However, concerns raised by the fire marshall caused ticketing to go to assigned seating.

According to Trinetti, the success of this year ' s Sting Break was contingent on the collaboration of many campus organizations.

" If any of our sponsors didn ' t give us the money that they did, we wouldn ' t be able to do the show, " Trinetti said.

He hopes for more organizations to get involved in Sting Break to help ensure the future success of the event. He also said increased funding is needed if the committee continues to pursue big name acts in the future. " The more people that are involved, the more funding there is and the better our possibilities. "