By Jordan Brown, UCSC student
In a recent issue of City on a Hill Press, the Student Union Assembly (SUA) outlined their pursuit to host a “large scale music festival.” Internal vice Chair Max Hufft said he has “thought about the absence of a large concert at UCSC since his freshmen year.” He goes on to say that large scale events at other UCs in Southern California “sparked” his desire to have a copycat event at UCSC. This yearning to have an imitation Southern California UC event on our campus is a threat to the UCSC community.
The arrogance of the SUA is on full display when they state that a referendum would be needed to pay for concerts beyond this year. This demand for a fee increase to be imposed on all students, on top of the already high cost of attendance, is simply the height of arrogance. Without even waiting to see if the concert is a success or not, or if it will logistically work, they are talking about raising the cost to attend UCSC just to pay for their pet project. In addition there is no mention of a vote or poll of the citizens of Santa Cruz to see if they want the extra traffic, people and problems that will inevitably ensue with a large scale event. This is quite frankly just plain disrespectful to the citizens of this small community.
The worst part of the SUA’s desire to host this concert is their motivation to have this pet project define our university. Hufft says “through this concert we’re really hoping this is one of the few ways we can tell the world, the nation and the state: this is UCSC.” This means that a concert by their own admission modeled after Southern California UCs will define this community and our university. Forget that UCSC is known for being unique and doing things differently. Forget that UCSC is known for breaking the mold and challenging the status quo. Forget that this university and its community prides itself on not being like any other UC. Forget that UCSC defines itself by not being like the other UCs. Instead this pet project that is designed and constructed to be a carbon copy of other UC events will define us. A pet project that is so desperate to be like the other UCs it challenges everything that UCSC has tried to be: different.
