USG discusses concerns over Lawnparties headliner

The Undergraduate Student Government discussed Lawnparties and the choice of Big Sean as the main act at its weeklysenate meeting on Sunday.

USG president Ella Cheng ’16 said that she and social chair Simon Wu ’17care about making the process of choosing the main act more democratic than it has been in the past.

“There was actually no possibility to make it more open with this particular act because it came in January, even before our terms had officially started,” Cheng said.

Cheng is a former staff writer for The Daily Princetonian.

“We are never going to please the majority of the student body,” Class of 2016 senator Kristen Coke said.

U-councilor Mallory Banks ’16 said that, in past years, students were surveyed in advance for their Lawnparties artist preferences.

“The issue with that is that you will get Beyoncé, Beyoncé, Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Kanye West,” Banks said. “Yes, the students will speak, but they will say things that are inconceivable given the budget.”

The USG social committee works with an agent to get quotes and find out the availability of artists for the headliner act, Wu said, addingsaid that the social committee hopes to make the selection process for Lawnparties performances more transparent than it has been in past years, despite the time constraint.

“In terms of the contract, where we are now, it is both impractical and unbeneficial to end that, to renege on a very large contract with a big artist. The alternative would be no main act,” Wu explained in response to a question of how much cancellation would cost. “The conversation needs to be in the direction of how we can improve the selection process. I would love to hear suggestions on how we can make it better, make it something that people feel invested in.”

Students took to social media on Sunday to express concern over the choice of Big Sean as the main act after Duncan Hosie ’16 and Rebecca Basaldua '15 started a petition urging USG tochoose a different act given what he called Big Sean’s promotion of “rape culture” and “misogyny” in song lyrics.

The petition was not directly addressed at the meeting.

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Princeton Perspective Project chair Mary Heath Manning ’17 attended the senate meeting to present an update on the project.

“We’re constantly checking back to our mission statement to make sure that the programs we are planning, the focus groups we’re planning to coordinate, everything is working towards our overarching goals,” Manning said.

The Princeton Perspective Project plans to hold an event called “Behind a Smile: A Storytelling Event,” featuring a keynote speaker as well as student speakers and performers, on April 18. Student participants will share stories of difficulties or failures at the event, according to Manning.

“The main event will be a segment done by student storytellers presenting their stories from behind a curtain, and ultimately revealing themselves, proving that we can break down these barriers that we tend to put up and act as though everything is going perfectly,” Manning said.

Wu suggested that the Princeton Perspective Project collaborate with Songline or Ellipses slam poetry groups.

Projects Board co-chair Tyler Lawrence ’16 presented a request for $2,000 for the annual dodgeball tournament.

When asked if it was plausible to do the event with lower costs by eliminating the cash prizes, James Poindexter ’18, arepresentative of The Colosseum Club,said that T-shirts for the event have already been ordered and that negotiations with local pizza vendors are already underway.

Deputy Dean of Undergraduate Students Thomas Dunne, who attended the meeting, noted that the annual event had formerly started on a smaller scale without cash prizes, but that the money has really made it a campus-wide event.

The senate also talked about the upcoming Chipotle study break, which will not only fulfill Cheng’s campaign promise, but also serve as a way to gather feedback about USG. Students will be invited to take a short survey that consists of several open-ended questions about how to improve USG and its election process, according to communications chair Nick Horvath ’17.

Only the first 170 people to fill out the survey will be able to come to the study break.

U-councilor Danny Johnson ’15 said he was concerned that the comments people submit might not be extensive or thorough, given that students will try to submit answers quickly to get the free food.

Johnson is a former staff writer for the ‘Prince.’

The new USG website is launching on Monday, in time for the spring 2015 elections season. Horvath noted that the website could later include a list of answers to frequently asked questions.