To the Editors:
In lieu of last week's article, I'd like to qualify some things in regard to the amount of spending the Entertainment-Board (E-Board) does. Obviously Bowdoin isn't the center of the universe. The economy has seen better days and there are people in the world experiencing disasters far worse than the reliability of printers in Hawthorne-Longfellow Library. The E-Board's spring concert budget is substantial, and we questioned at the onset of planning if it were responsible to spend so much on it. What if we put $20,000 towards it, or just had campus bands perform? The concert on the Quad is one of the Bowdoin student's most cherished, traditional events for many reasons. We didn't want to be the force that risked stifling it. It's not our place to make that decision for everyone.
Instead, we try to spend our money intelligently, which has been explained in past articles. The Ivies budget went up so much mainly because Passion Pit required an additional $15,000 to book due to travel conflict. We accepted that because they were second on the student survey, and it is likely they will cost even more next year due to their increasing popularity. I'd also like to note, that although artists and their managers sometimes request weird, or an exorbitant amount of items on their hospitality riders, it doesn't mean we provide them with everything. We provide only what we deem practical and necessary for their comfort, safety and performance.
Sincerely,
Lucas Delahanty '10
E-Board co-chair