By Emily Boeglin

To this date, it has been over four years since Kutztown University has held a concert. The reason behind this was the out of date concert policy, last revised in 1992.

That is, until Matt Assad, treasurer of Student Government Board (SGB) and Chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee brought the issue up early this fall.

Tired of seeing other schools holding concerts and none at his own, he decided it was time for a change. “There is no reason why KU shouldn’t have concerts like other universities,” Assad said. He also said that the reason KU hasn’t held large concerts is not for lack of funding.
“There is an account dedicated to events like these that has been sitting, untouched,” Assad said.

These funds are made up of every student’s mandatory student activity fee, which grows continuously, and has been waiting for these issues to be addressed.

Leticia Garcia, SGB Student Representative for Liberal Arts and Sciences, was a huge part of this process. She said that the new policy will benefit the school, whereas the old policy was “neither applicable nor realistic to today’s students.”

One of the most important changes made was the creation of the committee to coordinate the concerts, in which every department on campus is represented.

“We’re really trying to cover our bases in incorporating all of the students on campus, with equal representation. We really wanted these changes to be something that could endure for the future. We revised it to be broad enough to encourage the creative freedom of future students. We wanted something that could be adaptable enough so that there would be no more obstacles—the lack of adaptability in the old policy was a total roadblock—the new one allows more freedom while still providing enough structure so the future SGB won’t have another hold up,” Garcia said.
The process of choosing and voting on a concert is more efficient as well. Camden Delphus, Vice President of SGB said, “There is finally a framework now, and it’s becoming a reality.”

Garcia is one of many who are excited about the news. “A concert here would be groundbreaking, and it would work as a trademark for KU. People who would’ve never otherwise visited KU would attend the concert, see the beautiful campus we have, and notice all the great things we have to offer,” Garcia said.

Although the venue on campus has yet to be determined, KU could be hosting a large scale concert as soon as next spring. The venue must be able to hold a minimum of 25% of the student population, roughly 2,500 students.