UC To Examine Wyclef Failure

The Undergraduate Council (UC) voted to form a commission to investigate the factors leading to the cancellation of the Wyclef Jean concert that would have been held last night.

Also at yesterday’s meeting, UC Vice President Clay T. Capp ’06 announced that the Rules Committee will present legislation within the next few weeks that will recommend creating a social programming board and reorganizing the Campus Life Committee (CLC).

The Harvard Concert Commission (HCC) announced on Tuesday that the Wyclef Jean concert had to be cancelled due to insufficient ticket sales, leading to a loss of between $25,000 and $30,000, according to HCC Chair Jack P. McCambridge ’06.

The Fall 2005 Concert Inquiry Commission created last night will allow the UC to “find out what went wrong,” said Ryan A. Petersen ’08, one of the bill’s sponsors.

“We need to look at not just what the hell happened, but what the hell we can do about it,” said Matthew R. Greenfield ’08, the other sponsor of the bill. “We would like to have an inquiry within the UC. The money that was lost wasn’t the HCC’s money, but the UC’s money, and our constituents’ money.”

McCambridge said after last night’s meeting that the HCC has already begun its own internal evaluation.

“We’ve sat down twice and run through everything,” McCambridge said. “We are going through an internal examination of what happened.”

The new commission, made up of six UC members, will look at the structure of the HCC and the concert planning process as a whole before offering a set of recommendations.

Although unaware of the specifics of the new commission, McCambridge said he was receptive to input from the council.

“I think any effort on the UC’s part to help the Concert Commission in improving itself is certainly welcome,” McCambridge said.

FOCUS ON SOCIAL LIFE

While specific legislation has not yet been drafted for the proposed social programming board, Capp said at last night’s meeting that one possible option would be to dissolve CLC and the First-Year Social Committee in favor of the new board “that would be able to function more or less independently from the UC...on a day-to-day basis.”

UC President Matthew J. Glazer ’06 said the timing of Capp’s announcement was not related to the HCC’s failed concert.

At last week’s council meeting, Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross ’71 questioned the UC’s role in social event planning.

“I think the UC should give some consideration as to whether it should be in the campus life business,” said Gross.

Capp was adamant last night that the UC should maintain at least a supervisory role in any future programming board. He cited the ongoing efforts by the Office of the Dean to address social life among undergraduates, emphasizing that the council needs to remain involved.

“Other commissions are being formed by University Hall,” said Capp. “As student representatives, I think this is our biggest strategic initiative. We need to demonstrate how serious we are about this topic.”

—Staff writer Alexander D. Blankfein can be reached at ablankf@fas.harvard.edu.