Student Government Association is pursuing various options in an effort to find a venue for the Ludacris concert that was canceled last week.
“We’re still trying to get the fire marshal/Mini-Dome thing straightened out,” SGA President JR Husmillo said Sunday night.
SGA had initially planned to hold concert outdoors on campus, but could not because of concerns about limiting public access. The next choice was the Mini-Dome, but SGA was told that the state fire marshal had said no concerts could be held there.
A plan to hold the concert at Freedom Hall was shot down by City Manager Pete Peterson early last week when he said he would not sign the facility rental agreement allowing ETSU to use the venue. ETSU officials then canceled the concert, and notified Ludacris’ agency.
Thursday evening, ETSU students took their concerns about the cancellation to the Johnson City Commission.
At that point, the situation became even more confusing when Commissioner Pete Paduch noted that a fire marshal report stated that approximately 13,650 people could be allowed in the Mini-Dome.
Paduch also said that ETSU conducts graduation ceremonies and allows sporting events in the Mini-Dome, and those events attract thousands of people. Husmillo explained that those events were protected by a grandfather clause.
Husmillo said Sunday that Vice President for Administration Wilsie Bishop plans to talk with state fire marshal this week to determine the status of holding the concert in the Mini-Dome.
At the commission meeting, Husmillo addressed the security concerns, the rioting issue and crowd control issues that were Peterson’s basis for denying use of Freedom Hall.
Commissioner Ricky Mohon asked Husmillo if President Stanton approved of Ludacris coming to perform for ETSU. Husmillo said Stanton does not think that Ludacris represents ETSU values, but that he does support the students. President Stanton was not present for the proceedings.
Husmillo told the commissioners that ETSU does not have a policy on what events can be held on campus, but that the state fire marshal had told them they could not have a concert in the Mini Dome.
“You have a legitimate complaint,” Paduch said. “I understand that you had the money and that ETSU provided no guidelines and told you to go do it. You went and got someone and the university said oh bleep when they found out who it was.”
After Husmillo spoke, SGA Senator Jama Oliver addressed the commissioners. She apologized to the commission for the numerous complaints that the city has endured and said that she supported the decision by the city to refuse facilities.
Oliver also said that there was no contract, and that this was not a censorship issue – that previous performers at Freedom Hall were of no consequence and that the city is justified by not allowing a person who mentions murder, rape, illegal drug use and other topics to perform in its venue.
Bishop was asked to come before the commission. She said that the fire marshal issued a memo in January that allowed exceptions for use of the Mini-Dome and another was received in August that specifically stated that there could be no concerts held in the Mini Dome. Bishop told the commission that other events held in the Mini Dome were “grandfathered in.”
The commission asked Bishop if the university would proceed if granted Freedom Hall as a venue. Bishop stated that ETSU would support it.
The commission decided that that ETSU should try and resolve the issue of the use of the Mini Dome with the state fire marshal. If the Mini Dome cannot be used, ETSU can be put on the agenda for the next commission meeting on Oct. 20. At that meeting, the commissioners will vote on whether or not to let the university use Freedom Hall for their Oct. 27 concert.
“I think it went well,” Husmillo said. “I did not expect that (the commission) would reconsider the Freedom Hall issue. From what I gather from the commission, they actually support us having a concert. I got more than I expected.

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