The Student Council's (StuCo) new Entertainment Commission was formed with the passage of the new StuCo bylaws for the sole purpose of organizing social activities on campus. The commission allows for larger projects and for the pooling of resources between the four classes.
Created in late February, the Commission is headed by Vice President of the Entertainment Commission Manu Sharma and the four class presidents: freshman Jae Jin, sophomore Christal Ng, junior Brian Drolet and senior Simone Chen.
The Commission allows all the class presidents to work together and come up with ideas for entertainment on campus, which many on StuCo feel it helps the freshman class president to learn the ropes.
Although the establishment of the Commission signifies a unification of the classes within StuCo, it still does not have its own budget, which many commission members see as a significant problem.
Because a lack of on-campus entertainment is a complaint for many students, the Entertainment Commission is aiming to alleviate some of these negative opinions.
"As the freshmen class president, it's great that I can work with the other presidents because they have more experience with what interests students and what works. At the same time, freshmen have come up to me and offered me ideas, and I can bring that to the table." Jin said----.
When asked if she thought the social life on campus will improve, Sharma said, "I feel like the answer is definitely yes."
The commission is not without its skeptics, however. Robert Freundlich, who resigned from StuCo earlier this year, said, "It's a lot easier to plan social events on a class-by-class basis. That's not saying this new committee will be incapable of doing so, but events targeted to seniors are generally vastly different from events targeted to freshmen."
"It's difficult, although not impossible, to plan events that could cater to both ends of the spectrum," he said. "Things like Spring Fair have done a great job at this, so I'm hesitant to say it's impossible," Freundlich added.
Throughout this past week the Commission has sought to be heard and seen as the end of the year approaches. The group has sold t-shirts on the breezeway, organized a club night at Hammerjacks and held a Battle of the Bands on the steps of Gilman Hall all within a four-day period, hoping to prove that the Entertainment Commission can get things done.
Ng said, "[The] entertainment commission is now at its finest."
Freundlich worried that there is no need for an Entertainment Committee to organize school-wide events considering the abundance of similar organizations already on campus. "In this case, while the Entertainment Commission's function would be a bit redundant, it could still successfully target the school as a whole. Events [and groups] such as Spring Fair, MSE, HOP and the like are successful because they have a budget."
"I would imagine that the Committee will need to address its budgetary issues before it can get up on its feet," he said.
Ng agrees that the budget is the largest restriction on the Commission.
She said, "We feel like [the Commission] has been really good, but we don't have a budget and we have to fundraise our butts off to do anything. But next year we hope to have a lot of stuff."
Sharma added that, while funding is the main hindrance, "for three years we've had the debate to separate social programs from policy,-- and with the passing of this new constitution, this has happened. A future concern I have for the Entertainment Commission is that it needs to be funded. We are currently under a system where we are dependent on the classes to contribute money for events."
"We are pretty limited - this year at least - when it comes to money," Drolet said. "I think the commission is lacking an adequate budget to be truly effective."
Although the commission still faces many obstacles, they plan to manage with what they have. "We can work with the Commission or complain," Sharma said, "We've chosen to do the former."
