An alternative Lawnparties event aimed at students who do not support Big Sean's attendance and students with different musical interests will be held at Campus Club on the day of Lawnparties.
The event will feature barbecue and a live cover band with roots in New Jersey, GoodMan Fiske.
The scheduling of the alternative event comes after some students had previously called on the Undergraduate Student Government in an informal petition to rescind its contract with Big Sean due to his misogynistic lyrics and criminal past. USG later sent an apology email to the student body but noted it was too late to make any amendments to the contract.
Rebecca Basaldua '15, who helped to organize both the petition and the alternative event, said she started organizing the alternative event on Wednesday after a number of students separately approached her with the idea.
Basaldua said she then met with Deputy Dean of Undergraduate Students Thomas Dunne on Thursday, and the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students agreed to help organize and fund the event. Individual students are also helping to fund the event, Basaldua added.
"[The alternative event] will start a little bit before Big Sean," Basaldua said.
The USG Lawnparties artist selection system is also being reformed, and this reform should ultimately "make clear that there are expectations for the types of performers [who perform at Lawnparties]," Basaldua added.
The additional cost to the University of the event is "a couple thousand dollars," Dunne said.
"[Lawnparties] has really become [something in which] there's something for everybody," Dunne said. "I view this in the spirit of that."
USG was not directly involved in creating the alternative Lawnparties event, USG social committee chair Simon Wu '17 said.
"The more options for people, the better," Wu said.
Students interviewed had mixed feelings about the alternative event.
“There’s a bunch of very activist people on campus, I think, so I’m not surprised,” Marion Lewis '18 said about the creation of the alternative event.
Jesse McDonough '17 said she is not opposed to the University holding a separate Lawnparties event for people who are offended by Big Sean's performance.
"I mean that’s not causing any sort of disruption,"McDonough said. "It’s just providing what some people want, and you know, students can choose whichever one they want to go to.”
Clayton Otter '18 said he definitely would not be attending the alternative event.
Staff writer Melissa Curtis contributed reporting.
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