Vega

To the Editors of The Crimson:

The Undergraduate Council may, depending on how they vote, pay $50,000 to bring Suzanne Vega to campus. This is absolutely absurd. The Council should get out of the concert promotion business and quickly.

Finance Committee Chair Guhan Subramanian '92 admits in The Independent, "We don't expect to break even. As long as people are being entertained that's what's important." With the cost of $50,000, and a seating capacity at Bright Arena of 3800, each ticket would have to sell for more than $13, which is an awful lot for Suzanne Vega, and this is before one even considers costs for the use of Bright, police, and the placement of seating.

Fifty-thousand dollars is one heck of a lot of money for a college student government to spend to "entertain," especially with the high number of things to do on campus and in Boston on any given Saturday night. If Vega does not come to campus, I find it difficult to believe that students will be in the least bit depressed or disappointed with the Council or its staff.

My point has nothing to do with the fact that it is Vega as opposed to someone else. The Council simply should not be pouring that kind of money into an event which clearly will be to the benefit of one person: Vega, and to the tune of $50,000.

If Council Chair Kenneth E. Lee wants to be a concert promoter, more power to him, but he should not be doing it with student money. I love a good time as much as anyone, but $50,000? That's one heck of a night out. Rob Cocca '90