Concert Plans Move Forward

Halloween and Harvard-Yale weekend may be more eventful than usual this Fall.

The Undergraduate Council passed two bills on Friday authorizing the Harvard Concert Commission (HCC) and the College Life Committee (CLC) to bid on artists for a 3,500 person concert in Gordon Track and a comedy show in Sanders Theatre.

The concert is tentatively scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 21, a day after The Game, and the comedy show would be on Sunday, Oct. 31.

The bill listed artists who the HCC determined would be likely to accept the invitation based on their availability and interest. Some of the bigger names include Bob Dylan, Kanye West and Usher.

HCC Director Justin H. Haan ’05 said that the concert would cost between $75,000 and $125,000 with the council covering $30,000 and ticket sales covering the rest. CLC chair Jack P. McCambridge ’06 estimated that tickets would cost between $20 and $25 for Harvard students and $30 for non-Harvard students.

Despite a long debate over the high costs of these events, and the refusal of the HCC to list potential artists in order of preference, both bills passed 24-0 with council secretary Jason L. Lurie ’05 leaving the room to protest both votes.

Only 25 council members were present for the meeting—just exceeding the necessary 22 or 50 percent of current members to reach quorum according to the council’s constitution. The meeting was most likely the final one for last year’s council as the new council will be elected over the next two weeks.

Members expressed concerns that the large allocation would tap into money available for student groups.

Finance Committee Chair Teo P. Nicolais ’06 said that the the CLC’s budget for this Fall is approximately $50,000 and a concert and comedy act would eat up roughly 90 percent of that with proposed grants of $30,000 and $15,000 apiece.

He proposed an amendment to the comedian bill that would have guaranteed funding to large student groups such as House Committees (HoCo) prior to committing $15,000 to a comedy act. The amendment failed by a vote of 14 to 8.

“By doing what we just did, we’ve left our HoCos and other student groups out in the cold,” Nicolais said.

According to Nicolais, the council pledged last Spring to donate $20,000 to HoCos every semester while proposing the termbill fee hike from $35 to $60, which went into effect this fall.

“How are we going to guarantee $20,000 when we only have $5,000 left?” Nicolais said.

Council President Matthew W. Mahan ’05 defended the budget decision by asserting that the CLC would receive $50,000 in rollover money from last semester’s budget.

But Nicolais said that most of this rollover money has already been earmarked for student groups.

“It’s not our money—it’s the student groups’ money,” Nicolais said. “If we don’t recoup these costs, we are in a lot of trouble.”

On the second major point of contention—the listing of the target artists in alphabetical order rather than by bid preference—some council members said they were uncomfortable with the HCC’s resulting autonomy.

Haan and McCambridge defended the decision not to prioritize artists by arguing that the complexity of the bidding process precluded them from doing so.

The council also considered an amendment that would remove a clause in the concert bill that authorized the HCC to pursue any artist not listed in the bill “if necessity requires.” The amendment failed 21 to 4.

Mahan said he is comfortable with granting the HCC more money.

“Given the day-to-day changes that take place in the entertainment world it is crucial that the HCC have the autonomy to switch around the bid order, move the date, or change the amount they are bidding on,” he wrote in an e-mail.

The council unanimously passed a third bill at Friday’s meeting authorizing at least two free advanced movie screenings, sponsored by Alloy Marketing and Promotions, in October at Loews Theatre. The first two movies planned are Friday Night Lights and Alfie.

—Staff Writer Evan M. Vittor can be reached at evittor@fas.harvard.edu.