OUR VIEWS Consensus Opinion

Every spring semester, students look forward to Sting Break as an opportunity to enjoy fun, and often free, events on campus. For the past several years, Sting Break has included a concert as the central highlight of the week.

Many students, especially graduating seniors, will be disappointed to hear that the Student Center Programs Council (SCPC) has booked a rapper for the fourth year in a row. T.I. will perform this year, succeeding acts that have included Bubba Sparxx, Ludacris and Big Boi. Though students have enjoyed these concerts, there is always something to be said for variety. We would love to hear someone in a different genre than rap for a change.

SCPC claims to want and value student input for Sting Break, which is supposed to be for the students, even making a poll available online several months ago for students to rate which bands they would like to see and what they would be willing to pay if necessary. However, the final choice, T.I., was not even on the original list. SCPC should get students' opinions for Sting Break, but they should then also utilize those opinions.

SCPC should make sure they only include viable choices on the poll they present to students. They could also start the process earlier, as most artists have their schedules set long in advance and become more difficult to book closer to the date.

If SCPC cannot get any of the students' choices for a Sting Break band, they could easily put together a concert of smaller bands from different genres, which would therefore appeal to a greater percentage of students on campus. Ideally, a concert with three or four bands would have at least one band to appeal to each student.

A Sting Break concert with smaller bands would work much more smoothly than the current setup. Not only that, but SCPC would have the option of using Yellow Jacket Park as the concert venue like they did for Sting Break 2004, since smaller bands would not have the security issues that performers such as Ludacris have with Yellow Jacket Park.

Also, Yellow Jacket Park has a much more intimate, outdoorsy feel compared to the Coliseum, where the Sting Break concert is currently held. The Coliseum is difficult to fill anywhere near capacity for the concert and subsequently feels empty and far from festive. It is also much less central to campus so students are less likely to just drop by and stay for the event.

SCPC is on the right track for Sting Break, but it seems they have gotten stuck in a rut. In the future they should add variety, plan earlier and try to use student input in their planning as much as possible.