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Take a step forward

Published: Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Updated: Wednesday, February 10, 2010 00:02

Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned to walk forward.”

Such a thought process for a college student seems far-fetched as we are developing into adults and learning a variety of new things.

We have little time to accept things as they are, as we prefer to question and place our own opinions on the things that involve us.

Sure, our Student Government Association advocates to the best of their ability the wants and needs of students, but our university, from an administrative standpoint, is not run by students.

There has been a push for concerts and programming aimed not at the community, but at students.

The university has done a good job of obtaining acts; however are these acts what the students of ISU want?

By all means, we are students first and foremost, here to receive and education, but shouldn’t we, the students, have input into the people our university is bringing in to entertain u?.

Granting third-party promoters the right to bring in entertainment, as the arrangement stands now, will not result in a concert or event that students want.

We’ve had acts such as Lynyrd Skynyrd, ZZ Top and Rascal Flatts at Hulman Center, so why have we not had acts of their magnitude or greater in recent years?

University officials must learn to use those perfectly good legs and walk forward, putting faith in students, as opposed to merely writing off the hard work and giving money to a third party.

As opposed to traveling hours to see the acts we listen to on our iPod’s, it would make much more sense for the university to take a look at the work of other universities in obtaining artists.

Since when did a little research hurt anybody?

Research for the normal college students is nothing new. We shouldn’t expect anything less from our administrative officials.

We spend a decent amount of money attending this university. Setting aside a portion of this money to produce a few more music acts would definitely be a step in the right direction.
 

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1 comments Log in to Comment

matt luecking
Thu Feb 11 2010 22:37
I often read the Indiana Statesman to see what is going on with my alma mater. I am impressed that somebody has finally asked the question that I have been asking of the Hulman Center for years? If you want acts that students are interested in you should work with the student government association and get an entertainment fee passed. They have things like this at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston. They bring a national act of student interest every spring. They also have something like this at IU, and U of I in Champaign, and many other colleges across the country. It's really sad that year after year the Hulman Center remains empty with no shows. There are reasons why ISU is skipped over for shows. You're always going to lose out on a tour if an artist in hitting Indianapolis, due to the mileage proximity. You'll probably lose out to IU or U of I because they have more students that are capable of buying tickets. Promoters are always going to go with a place that is more of a sure bet. You'll also lose out to Evansville, because Evansville is tied in with a network that brings shows to a bunch of their arenas. The Hulman Center is a stand alone arena. The best way to get shows to Terre Haute is to propose a 25 dollar a semester entertainment fee, or whatever amount that you could agree on with the student body. It could be 10 dollars, and if you have 10,000 students you have 100,000 dollars for a fall or spring show. Students bring shows to their universities all the time. Check out www.concertideas.com. I would love to see the Statesman staff do an article on this. You would be amazed that the acts that are out there. You can get acts cheaper if you get them on an off night, or on a tour route. You're always going to pay more for a Saturday night. I would be glad to assist with some ideas for you to ask the questions for an article. It's good to see the Hulman Center is having Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan. That's a start! There are more things that could be done though, and this is an option that should be considered. I am sure you could contact other midwestern universities, and find out how these things are done. If you want something to happen be proactive and ask the questions. I would be glad to help with anything I can. I have talked about these things on the radio for years.

Matt Luecking
proud ISU alumni

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