By ERIC ST. AMAND
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
[email protected]
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To the disgruntled Spring Weekend students,
Over the past week, I have seen an outpouring number of students complain about their inability to attend the Spring Weekend concert featuring T-Pain, DJ Carlucci and Third Eye Blind. Many people have pointed the finger at SCOPE: the student committee of planning events. Although I personally have never been to a SCOPE meeting, I am well aware of the mission of SCOPE. They are a group of approximately 40 students who plan upwards of 200 events for the student body over the academic year. SCOPE spearheads some of the most popular and highest attended events of the year.
I personally did not have the opportunity to purchase a Spring Weekend concert ticket. Is it frustrating that the entire student body can’t be accommodated for this large scale event on campus? Of course it is. However, SCOPE is not the only organization that has had to turn students away from attending popular events. Spring Weekend is a tradition at UNH. It is a time for us, as students, to relax and have fun before the stress of finals consumes our lives for the last week of the semester. Spring Weekend drew in approximately 1500 students last year and is going to exceed that number for this year. We cannot blame SCOPE for advertising well and getting talented entertainers to come to our campus. Personally, I would like to congratulate SCOPE for such successful events!
I see many students complaining about the distribution process. To this point, I ask how would you have done it better? There are always going to be times of the day where students have class or club events. Even if you did an electronic registration process, I wouldn’t have been able to register during class. Other students recommended a change of venue. Personally, I enjoy having events on campus. It creates that community atmosphere we all have grown to love! Another argument was that we should have multiple showings of the concert. This would have been extremely costly and financially irresponsible.
Other unsatisfied students argue that since they are paying $34,630 for tuition and an additional $14,410 for room and board, they have a right to attend the Spring Weekend concert. I don’t disagree that UNH is an expensive private school. However, there are plenty of private colleges charging more than $10,000 more than UNH charges us. Also, only a small percentage of what you are paying actually goes towards a student activity fee. We all decided to come to UNH for a reason: a diverse major selection, proximity to home, a growing Greek community, size of the student body, the reputation of your major, experienced faculty, class size or even the infamous “experiential education” motto!
As the university continues to grow, there obviously is an additional need for space on campus. Although I am not happy with every single aspect of campus, the university has become home over the past four years. President Kaplan has seen the need for expansion and has made a large effort to continue the growth of the university.
With this being said, I understand the disappointment of students who were unable to get a spring weekend ticket. There is no questioning the fact that UNH needs more space for large scale events on campus! However, you cannot blame organizations that work tirelessly to create amazing events for us to enjoy.
