Bring Concerts to the Stadium

Harvard’s recent actions to discourage the Undergraduate Council from hosting a major concert in Harvard Stadium this spring only further the perception that the College lacks concern for students’ social lives.

The Harvard Concert Commission (HCC) had hoped to bring a major band—Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews Band and REM were mentioned as possibilities—to campus in the spring. To draw such a popular band, HCC’s proposal called for a venue capable of accommodating about 37,000 people, and Harvard Stadium is, of course, the only space on campus that could host such an event. The next biggest venue is the Bright Hockey Arena, with a capacity of less than 3,000.

But although this year the Stadium will be used only for six football games, Associate Dean of the College David P. Illingworth ’71 and Assistant Athletic Director for Operations Jeremy L. Gibson were unenthusiastic about the idea of a spring concert, which would have raised about $200,000 for charity. Harvard’s Director of Community Relations, Kevin A. McCluskey ’76, also gave the concert commission a cold reception, saying, “We are not in the concert-producing business here.”

But Harvard is in the business of giving its students the opportunity to build their own social lives. For all the efforts of the College and the council, no events on campus come close to the level of entertainment that a major concert would provide. Big concerts bring bigger bands, more money, and simply more fun. A Dave Matthews concert would draw nearly every Harvard undergraduate; there are few better ways to bring the campus together.

The costs and logistical problems cited by Illingworth and Gibson may be significant, but they should not preclude the College from hosting a concert. The Harvard-Yale Game is an event of comparable size where the stadium is filled with thousands of angry, drunk students; a concert would hardly pose worse problems in crowd control. Large-scale concerts are common on university campuses nationwide; it is difficult to believe that only at Harvard would logistical difficulties be insurmountable.

McCluskey added that Harvard’s Allston neighbors might not be pleased about the idea of a concert in Harvard Stadium. But there are few residential buildings in the stadium’s immediate vicinity, and Allstonians manage to endure six football games. A one-time event like a concert should not arouse intense criticism.

Harvard should work with the council and HCC to explore ways to address the logistical difficulties a concert would present, or to investigate alternatives should these difficulties prove insurmountable. Of course, this would represent work for the College and its administration, and it is not the College’s job to hold students’ hands and make sure they are enjoying themselves. But helping students to organize their own activities and to make use of existing but rarely used University resources is exactly the kind of assistance that the College should be expected to provide.