Rockin' The Yard

Goodbye, suburbs, and hello, Harvard Yard. Ben Folds has landed at “Yardfest.”

Thanks to funding from the Office of the President, the former “Springfest” will be transformed into an undergraduate-focused extravaganza featuring a free performance by the piano-playing crooner in Tercentenary Theatre.

We are excited that Harvard will be holding its first major concert since Bob Dylan played at the Gordon Track some 17 months ago. We maintain that concerts and other campus-wide social events, such as September’s successful Harvard State Fair, bring the whole undergraduate community together in a way that smaller events cannot.

Although recent concert failures caution against declaring any concert a success prematurely, there is reason to believe that Yardfest will not go the way of Wyclef and Snoop Dogg. For starters, tickets are free. And if Busta Rhymes’ show nearly two years ago is any indication, undergraduates will be out in droves, making this a true community-building event instead of an expensive treat for Ben Folds fans.

There are other upsides to the reinvented Yardfest. Focusing on undergraduates will prevent it from being a Springfest-esque kiddy carnival that leaves 20-year-olds bored and disinterested. It will take place in the Yard, a much larger and more communal location than the MAC quad. Most dining halls will be closed, a technique that helped increase turnout to the Harvard State Fair.

The reason the prospects for this concert look so much better than they did for Wyclef Jean’s infamous absence has to do with planning. The Office of the Dean of the College and Campus Life Fellow Justin H. Haan ’05 took over the bulk of the planning and funding of the event, leaving the Harvard Concert Commission (HCC) to do what it does best: negotiate with the artist and plan the production of the concert itself. This setup avoided many of the pitfalls that have plagued the planning of previous Springfests by the Undergraduate Council (UC). For example, planning was able to start in December and artist negotiations started January, a much earlier timetable than the UC and its stricter funding guidelines could accommodate. Also, the Dean’s office was able to reserve the Yard for the event, which is a logistical labyrinth that the UC could not do on its own.

Furthermore, it is the generous funding from the College and the President’s office (although they have declined to say how much) that will allow the concert to happen in the first place. In the past, reliance on ticket sales (along with UC funding) has led to small turnouts, eliminating any hope of profitability and reducing the community-building value of the event. We thank the College and the President’s office for backing up their rhetoric about improving undergraduate life by putting up enough money to make this concert free. In particular, University President Lawrence H. Summers and Dean of the College Benedict H. Gross ’71 are to be commended for providing funds. We hope that interim President Derek C. Bok and Summers’ permanent successor will continue this fledgling tradition.

But for now we’ll revel in the fact that, if all goes according to plan, Folds will be rockin’ the Yard in just a few short weeks.