Coffey, Hyman Feud Over $1,000 Lost in HYPE Investment

The Undergraduate Council's president accused one of its most high-profile members this week of losing $1,000 in a botched attempt to bring a band to the IOP's political rally, HYPE '96.

The accusations are the latest round of an escalating feud between President Robert M. Hyman '98 and his rival, Rudd W. Coffey '97, who was runner-up in last spring's presidential election.

Coffey became the council's chief organizer for entertainment planning related to HYPE after the council allocated $1,500 for entertainment costs.

According to Hyman, the council lost $1,000 when plans to bring the Mighty Mighty Bosstones failed to materialize. Part of Coffey's agreement with the agent stipulated that the agent, Eric Henning, would be paid regardless of whether he could secure the band.

"We have to pay this agent $1,000, despite the fact that we never signed a band," Hyman said.

Coffey, however, maintained that the council rightfully owes the agent the $1,000 for the work that he put in to find the band.

"I think the only moral way the council can do this is to pay him. He put in $1,000 worth of hours into the project," Coffey said.

A contract in which the agent's fee is guaranteed is not standard when bands are contracted to pay, said Max A. Eisenbud, an agent for Flash Group Concerts who engineered the council's deal to bring comedian Chris Rock to campus in the spring of 1995.

"There is no money exchanging hands if the artist does not show," he said.

IOP Involvement

Coffey attributed the project's failure to mismanagement by Institute of Politics (IOP) staffers, particularly Catherine A. McLaughlin, the deputy director of the IOP and the staff contact for HYPE's student organizers.

McLaughlin and other staffers in the office did not return his repeated phone calls and provided him with either late or inaccurate information about the project, Coffey charged.

"Getting information and cooperation from Cathy McLaughlin was like pulling teeth," he said.

In one example, Coffey said the staff at the IOP sent Henning final confirmation letters three weeks late, causing Coffey and the agent to lose their tentative deal with the Bosstones.

McLaughlin refuted all charges of mismanagement on the part of the IOP staffers.

"I never was given any confirmation of any bands that I could then work with," she said.

Both Hyman and IOP organizers said they were never informed of the terms of the contract during the negotiation process.

"In the future, I don't think that one person should have the authority to sign such a contract without the approval of the president," Hyman said. "I know I would not have agreed to this contract."

The council has not yet paid the bill for the agent, according to Hyman. The IOP paid for the band, Expanding Man, which performed at HYPE.

The total cost of HYPE was approximately $8,000-$10,000, with Expanding Man accounting for $1,000 of that, according to McLaughlin.

IOP organizers found out that the council would not be providing a band about two to three weeks before the event, according to McLaughlin.

"The bottom line is that Rudd was never able to produce a band. He was really responsible for the negotiations, and it just didn't happen," McLaughlin said.

In addition to blaming Coffey for the $1,000 lost, Hyman also claimed that the agent Coffey used was a personal friend of his, a charge Coffey labeled "completely ludicrous."

"It is solely a business relationship," Coffey said.

This is not the first time the two council members have clashed this year. This past Sunday, at the council's first meeting of the year, the two engaged in a bitter exchange of insults during a debate on budget allocations.

In the debate, Coffey accused Hyman of gutting the Campus Life's Committee's budget in the proposal to allocate more money to the grants fund.

Coffey, however, minimized any tension between himself and Hyman.

"I don't agree with Rob's agenda or the way he runs the council," he said. "I crossed the line on Sunday, and I apologize. I just get wound up over the same criticism of Campus Life I've been facing for three years."

Hyman and Coffey ran a sometimes-dirty race last spring in the council's first-ever College-wide election of its president.

The race was marked by charges that the candidates were exaggerating their accomplishments and ripping down each other's campaign posters

The council has not yet paid the bill for the agent, according to Hyman. The IOP paid for the band, Expanding Man, which performed at HYPE.

The total cost of HYPE was approximately $8,000-$10,000, with Expanding Man accounting for $1,000 of that, according to McLaughlin.

IOP organizers found out that the council would not be providing a band about two to three weeks before the event, according to McLaughlin.

"The bottom line is that Rudd was never able to produce a band. He was really responsible for the negotiations, and it just didn't happen," McLaughlin said.

In addition to blaming Coffey for the $1,000 lost, Hyman also claimed that the agent Coffey used was a personal friend of his, a charge Coffey labeled "completely ludicrous."

"It is solely a business relationship," Coffey said.

This is not the first time the two council members have clashed this year. This past Sunday, at the council's first meeting of the year, the two engaged in a bitter exchange of insults during a debate on budget allocations.

In the debate, Coffey accused Hyman of gutting the Campus Life's Committee's budget in the proposal to allocate more money to the grants fund.

Coffey, however, minimized any tension between himself and Hyman.

"I don't agree with Rob's agenda or the way he runs the council," he said. "I crossed the line on Sunday, and I apologize. I just get wound up over the same criticism of Campus Life I've been facing for three years."

Hyman and Coffey ran a sometimes-dirty race last spring in the council's first-ever College-wide election of its president.

The race was marked by charges that the candidates were exaggerating their accomplishments and ripping down each other's campaign posters