As the Wesleyan Student Assembly’s (WSA) Concert Committee (CC) begins its second year of allocating funds for student-planned shows on campus, concerns about the legitimacy of the ratification process for the committee’s chair have surfaced, leading to a referendum vote that will take place in the next few weeks. Although last year’s chair, Donovan Arthen ’11, was the sole applicant to the 2010-2011 chair position, his appointment this semester was approved by an internal WSA vote as opposed to a majority vote from the student body this semester due to an administrative error.
According to the WSA Constitution, the student body must ratify the Concert Committee chair after he or she is chosen by the Appointment Committee and this process did occur for Arthen’s election in the 2009-2010 academic year.
While some consider revisiting this process akin to splitting hairs, others—including Arthen—have underscored the importance of taking the opinion of the student body into account.
“If the student body decides that I did a bad job [as chair last year], then it does matter,” Arthen said.
An upcoming referendum will determine whether Arthen’s appointment as chair can be confirmed. Technically, Arthen has been serving as the outgoing chair of the committee in an advisory capacity, with official responsibilities in line with those of a regular CC member, according to Student Budgetary Chair (SBC) Chair Andrew Huynh ’11.
If the referendum reveals a majority vote against Arthen’s appointment, the committee would essentially come to a standstill until a new WSA appointment has been made and voted upon by the student body.
“No concerts would be able to be booked for a while,” Arthen said.
In April 2009 when the WSA’s constitutional changes went up for vote, the WSA determined that the CC chair should be appointed through the standard WSA appointments process and ratified by a majority of the voting student body. This was done to ensure both the full engagement of the chair and loyalty to the representative democratic ideals of the WSA.
Regardless, Arthen explained that this was a minor administrative hiccup within the WSA.
“It was a simple administrative error,” Arthen said. “The whole executive committee has a lot on their plates. They’re not trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes.”
“This was a very small, unintentional oversight that we are working to correct as soon as possible,” Huynh said. “Because Donovan was the only applicant for the Concert Committee Chair position last semester, I don’t believe that, in practice, anyone was slighted in the process. However, it is definitely important that we follow the appointment process to the last detail, and we will ensure that this is done immediately.”
According to Huynh, feedback for the CC in its first year has been “very positive” and a WSA poll conducted last year showed favorable results.
Despite the administrative oversight, both Huynh and Arthen confirmed that all of the CC’s proposals so far this semester have been approved by the SBC.
“All concert committee allocation decisions have been referred to me for review and approval until Donovan is reconfirmed,” Huynh said.
After the Concert Committee chair is appointed and voted upon by the student body, the other four CC members are appointed by a special committee currently made up of Huynh, Director of Student Activities and Leadership Development Tim Shiner, WSA Vice President Ben Firke ’12, and SBC member Rohan Singh ’11.
If Arthen is reconfirmed, he and the other members of the CC are planning to establish mentors for students who are new to the booking scene on campus, creating an accessible Google calendar for concerts, and matching up student concerts with the Wesleyan Weekly Calendar that is e-mailed to all students.
“I am more than happy to hear any idea that anyone has,” Arthen said. “Many ideas we’re looking at now have come from non-WSA members.”
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