Questionable administrative priorities?

Colleges & Universities Wesleyan University
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<p>[Wesleying:</a> SJB to shut down all Eclectic events this semester](<a href=“http://wesleying.blogspot.com/2009/03/sjb-shuts-down-all-eclectic-events-for.html]Wesleying:”>Wesleying: SJB to shut down all Eclectic events this semester)</p>

<p>I’m a regular reader of Wesleying, and I have to say that this was a little bit concerning to me. For anyone who doesn’t feel like reading the above, the Student Judicial Board means to place a “Hosting Restriction” on Eclectic (a program house) due to a noise complaint. This will ban all events for the rest of the semester–including concerts, a free STI testing day, academic lectures, and many others–EXCEPT during WesFest weekend.</p>

<p>“…These charges are being made over noise complaints during one night last semester. As a society we are distraught; if this Hosting Restriction is to remain, it will mean that NO EVENTS will be able to occur at Eclectic for the remainder of the semester. We as a society feel that the exception for WesFest indicates that the administration is more interested in creating the appearance of student life for prospective students than actually supporting student culture.”</p>

<p>Advertising to prospective students while disregarding the effect of this on current ones doesn’t bode well. It may seem like a small thing, but I personally don’t like feeling that I am being lied to in any way, however small, by the administration at my potential future school. </p>

<p>I hope the ban doesn’t hold, but if it does, I’m glad I read about this before WesFest. Read the comments on Wesleying to get some student perspectives.</p>

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<p>I saw that too (and was one of the commenters, actually, haha).</p>

<p>I think we shouldn’t be so quick to be angry at the SJB. I seriously doubt it was because of ONE noise complaint – from what I hear, Eclectic gets rowdy pretty frequently. That said, I don’t see the point in getting rid of lectures and community service events and stuff like that, but I respect the SJB’s decision. People should act responsibly.</p>

<p>If you feel like the administration punishing the rowdiness of a rowdy club is a breach of your rights somehow, maybe you should re-think some things. Sorry to sound really pompous, but I really don’t see much wrong with this. School administrators are <em>supposed</em> to shut down things that get too wild – this would be normal at any other school. I think they could have been a little more lenient and they could have only shut down specific events instead of punishing the entire space, but still.</p>

<p>I do agree that allowing a concert on WesFest is a little misleading to prefrosh, but for the majority of the year, Eclectic <em>is</em> open – it will run normally again at the end of April or something. It’s not a total lie. Saying that this shows that Wes is more interesting in recruiting than actually providing a nice school is not true though – obviously the SJB made this decision to keep Wes a “nice school”, at least in theory. They’re not doing it to screw up peoples’ social lives, they’re doing it because they got noise complaints and are trying to get students to knock it off a little.</p>

<p>Finally: Are you already committed to Wesleyan? If not, and this is such a big deal to you, then don’t go. I think it’s kind of unnecessary to make a big fuss about it if it doesn’t yet apply to you.</p>

<p>EDIT: I do support signing the petition, if only because it seems heavy-handed to punish all events, even the constructive ones, because of the rowdier ones. My point was that peoples’ responses were unnecessarily angry and arrogant. People are so quick to get angry and stuff and think it’s some kind of breach of morality.</p>

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<p>^^</p>

<p>While I, too, am going to sign the petition because I think that there is no reason to punish the good events, I just want to second that there is no way that this punishment is just because of that noise violation, even if it came out of an SBJ hearing about it. Eclectic has been in a ton of trouble for a while now.</p>

<p>I do think that allowing them to stay open WesFest is a little odd. OTOH, remember that the SBJ is the STUDENT Judicial Board. This is not a direct order from the higher ups, but a punishment chosen mostly by other students, and there may have been some internal politics at work here (ie. the people doling the punishment vs. higher ups who want Eclectic open during WesFest, but also maybe wouldn’t have chosen this punishment…). Even if it is just the people making the punishment being inconsistent, again, at least some of that is coming from other students.</p>

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<p>A few things:</p>

<p>-This IS because of noise complaints (three in one night).
-Eclectic is effectively being shut down for an entire semester and that affects the students of Wesleyan who enjoy their events (events that are being canceled include STI testing, sociology lectures, and lots of great concerts). I don’t understand dividing events between “constructive” and “rowdy.” Concerts aren’t necessarily rowdy. The people in charge of the event (who are often NOT members of Eclectic–it is a space used by all sorts of people) are responsible for controlling the noise level and crowds.
-Thousands of dollars of the student budget has already been spent/promised to the acts scheduled. So money from the student body is going to be lost and we won’t get to attend the events.
-Allowing Eclectic to be open during WesFest isn’t “a little weird.” It’s a blatant move to propagate an image of our campus culture that will not exist for a semester, and who knows what will happen in the future? “Rowdiness” and “loud noise” are sort of part of college life no matter what an will happen at lots of parties/events. So are we supposed to sit back and let the school cancel all valuable events because something unfortunate but inevitable happened?</p>

<p>Noise complaints are bad, and the people responsible for the event that got out of hand should face some sort of punishment. But not letting Eclectic host any events till the very end of April is taking things way too far. It’s an important venue for campus culture and for a lot of students. And, to me, the worst part is that Eclectic will be allowed to host events during WesFest, as if to say, “Hey, kids, look how diverse our campus is! Look at the great things you’ll get to do!” but in reality, students at Wesleyan are not experiencing that, and may not in the future.</p>

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<p>remember eurydiced, as posted above, the STUDENT judicial board made this decision. it’s impossible to tell if/how much influence the admin had in this… it’s possible that the SJB wanted prefrosh to have the most fun possible, and is removing the ban temporarily for that reason. plus, the ban only lasts 10 more days after wesfest… hardly misleading. I highly doubt this decision was from three noise complaints. something else happened that isnt being released- I dont think the SJB would enact this harsh a punishment for so puny a crime.</p>

<p>I think there should be more transparency in the SJB decision. I agree that it’s a waste of money, etc, but to immediately pin it on the admin and their conniving ways is a little silly.</p>

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<p>I think there’s more info to be learned about this… but I think the punishment of cancelling all events at Eclectic is completely ridiculous. It’s one of the only student-run concert venues that can actually hold a substantial number of people, and there is also no reason that daytime events that will definitely not be loud (sociology lectures and STI testing are two examples) should not be allowed to happen. Really, this is just ********, and I think the WesFest exception shows the hypocrisy.</p>

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<p>it’s a pity that noise pollution should be at the heart of so much enmity between Wesleyan and its neighbors. Perhaps, it’s time, as Prof. Potter once suggested, to re-think our whole approach to downtown Middletown, especially, now that the Life Sciences Building is on hold.</p>

<p>Up until quite recently, the assumption has always been that students and townspeople could live together in close proximity. Maybe that’s a wrong assumption. Maybe, we should be using this time to analyze where it makes most sense to invest $160 million of concrete and glass the size of a city block.</p>

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<p>as a science major, it’s hard for me to recommend that the concrete and glass go elsewhere…</p>

<p>did the people who live near eclectic not realize they were moving near a college with a night-life? surely eclectic has been there long before the current denizens</p>

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<p>^</p>

<p>I don’t think that’s very fair. You can’t be disrespectfully loud and then defend it by saying that people should have known that their neighbors would be disrespectfully loud. It’s still not ok.</p>

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<p>well, to hear Mayor Giulliano talk, you’d think the yuppie overflow from Williamsburg could hit Pearl Street at any moment, now. But, it hasn’t happened yet. :/</p>

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<p>flying pig:
dont worry, I’m not condoning eclectic’s behavior. I was just trying to provide a rationale of why eclectic defenders may think its ok, and you appropriately shot it down. I dont see why eclectic should be exempt from punishment. there are rules to be followed.</p>

<p>I wont be signing the petition until I know exactly why this occurred. if I never find out, or if the punishment does fit the crime, eclectic does not get my pity.</p>

<p>apparently the noise complaints were just the icing on the cake, so apparently eclectic was in more trouble than just noise complaints. </p>

<p>whether the punishment is appropriate is up for discussion, but it is apparent they did more than one thing wrong that led to this occurring</p>

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<p>I agree, I’m sure there’s a bigger picture that we’re not getting and I wish people would wait to hear from the SJB before they rally behind the petition.</p>

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<p>flying_pig you should chill with dispensing priceless advice to people about how they “shouldn’t come here if it’s such a big deal to you” that the administration is acting like a bunch of crooks. telling people they shouldn’t come here is pompous, especially considering how limited your experience of both wesleyan and issues of campus life necessarily is owing to your position as not even a fresh(wo)man yet. for the record it’s a “big deal” to me too, as well as a large section of the wesleyan student body, and i know enough about the issue to know why i should be ****ed off</p>

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<p>as a current student, I’m going to disagree with you, MrPimpateer.</p>

<p>the student judicial board made this decision, not the administration. any part the admin had is purely speculative. apparently the noise complaints were icing on the cake and there had been previous infractions and avoidable run-ins with PSafe.</p>

<p>as for the administration trying to williams-and-amherst-ize wesleyan, thats complete *<strong><em>. why was the westco cafe shut down? rule violations. eclectic? rule violations. if they would just follow the rules, this wouldnt happen. and you know what, attracting “young strivers from suburban high schools” is perfectly fine for Wes. why? because they are more likely to contribute to the wes community and not *</em></strong> around all day getting high and skipping class (forgive the stereotype). I’m not saying the “alternative” crowd is bad, I’m saying that that kind of crowd is okay, too.</p>

<p>every year something happens (last year the butt tunnels painted over) and people cry out “we wont go quietly into the night and be like williams and amherst.” yet, wesleyan continues to remain wesleyan. stop being so paranoid… the administration didnt even make this decision</p>

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<p>Mr_P: As I said, I <em>do</em> support the petition, I just thought it was unnecessary for someone to complain about something at a school that they haven’t chosen. What if I decided to make a post on Amherst’s wall about how I didn’t like their student center? It would be weird, right, because it has nothing to do with me and it would be weird to complain about it.</p>

<p>While I’m obviously not yet a student at Wesleyan, I keep up with campus life enough to have been a commenter on the Wesleying post soon after it was made, and I could list dozens of events that Eclectic has held recently. I’ve heard about its general atmosphere and reputation from countless people. I think I am well-informed enough to at least share my opinion.</p>

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<p>Listen. Maybe that’s what this SBJ is about, but Eclectic has been in a ton of trouble recently, to the point where their program housing status is in question; this noise violation is not the only think they’ve done. </p>

<p>Indeed, ironically, I’d be far more okay with Eclectic being kicked out of their house for next year all together by ResLife, than by this coming from the SBJ, because this really messes events that were ALREADY planned. I mean, it would suck to lose Eclectic, and I don’t WANT them to lose their house, but that at least would be a punishment that has precedent, and that they’ve been warned about. And it would give student groups, etc, the whole summer to think of where to hold events in the future.</p>

<p>That said, the student response to this should cause any prefrosh happiness. A lot of Wes students, including many who don’t go to anything at Eclectic, are really rallying around the cause. Psi U has already picked up the STI testing (and 200 Church and ADP offered their spaces for it), and hopefully other events will find homes. It makes me happy to see.</p>

<p>Also, as far as I’ve heard, the noise complaint came from a nearby Prof, not a townie. Which is messed up in its own way.</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>Two things are awesome about this line:</p>

<ul>
<li>the Dylan Thomas reference.</li>
<li>the way Wes students instinctively classify Williams and Amherst together, like some subhuman breed of the mainstream.</li>
</ul>

<hr>

<p>But still – whether or not Eclectic has broken other rules, it’s undeniable that this response punishes the entire campus while putting up a fake front for prefrosh during Wesfest. And that’s not right.</p>

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<p>I’ve kept fairly quiet on this issue lately after making that original Wesleying post. However, since this is affecting prospective students, I want you to at least know that you are NOT getting the whole picture. The student body is not getting the whole picture, either.</p>

<p>Someone I know on the SJB was absolutely not allowed to tell me anything about the case, but was also clearly upset at how it was being represented and seemed to think it was being extremely misrepresented by Eclectic.</p>

<p>If you read the words of the notice to Eclectic that Anna has posted, it seems that the WesFest event was not left allowed to stay by some administration conspiracy, but rather, because it already had a finalized contract.</p>

<p>The administration is NOT who made this decision. A board of students together with Scott Backer made this decision. The administration has no influence with them. Seeing an administration conspiracy here is just stupid.</p>

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<p>I really don’t care about the SJB, the administrative conspiracy, Scott Backer etc. etc. </p>

<p>What I care about is the fact that Eclectic as an institution is a critical part of the Wesleyan social scene. More than any other single institution (indeed, more than Psi U, Beta, DKE, and ADP put together) it sets the social “tone” of this campus - artsy, ironic, “hip”, experimental, etc. They embody the Wesleyan brand; when people think of “liberal arts college students”, and Wes in particular, they are referring to Eclectic. </p>

<p>Whether you like Eclectic members is beside the point. The salient fact is that without Eclectic on this campus, campus social life would decline. Everything from lack of hot bands (brought here by and large by them) to people dressing less sharply (the tightness of people’s jeans ALWAYS increases from frosh–> soph year; who are they imitating? Eclectic) to just the whole cosmopolitan New York aesthetic which, more than anything else, characterizes the social scene here…campus social life would lose a certain degree of vibrancy and freshness with them gone. </p>

<p>That’s what ****es me off about this. The whole shutting them down for the semester thing - it’s ridiculous. If this ban becomes permanent, if they lose their house, that’ll be the end of it; Wesleyan will turn into a crummy imitation version of Williams, i.e., Colgate or Hamilton. Unless someone almost died or the cops (finally) found Eclectic’s giant heroin stash, I doubt the punishment could possibly fit the crime. The disproportionate nature of said punishment is what’s obnoxious about this in my mind. Why pick on Eclectic? </p>

<p>I have personally been high up on the roof at beta, wasted (years underage), ****ing off the side as a frat member hurled a barbecue at a passing PSafe car. The officer got out, picked up the barbecue, threw it back, and drove away. My point in repeating this anecdote is to point out that ALL frats and, in general, college students act idiotically; that’s the whole point of having them and of being here. It seems to me that, rather than punish Eclectic in a normal, proportionate manner, the SJB is “taking revenge” or “makig an example” of them here. Most likely Eclectic ignored or flouted a previous ruling or blew the SJB off at a hearing or I don’t know, but they must have angered SJB in some way as this is a ridiculous punishment.</p>

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<p>MrPimpateer: why is it every time you make a post, you reference Williams or Amherst and describe them as some sort of *****y place to go to school? what is wrong with these schools? shutting down eclectic will not make Wesleyan more like them, regardless… I think you’re being a little na</p>