There will be no concert this spring semester at ETSU, according to a letter sent to all students by SGA President TJ Mitchell on Tuesday. The reason behind this has been attributed to the “dire financial situation” facing the university.
“It would be sending the wrong message for us to be having a $100,000 concert when everyone else is struggling,” said Mitchell in an interview. “It’s more of a responsible decision on our part rather than a fiscal decision.”
SGA typically allots $150,000 each semester for a concert. Because SGA overspent last year’s budget, there was no concert scheduled for this fall and the spring concert budget was dropped to approximately $100,000.
Since there will be no concert this spring, “all monies allotted for the spring 2009 concert will be held over this fiscal year and totally devoted to and combined with next year’s budget for student activities,” Mitchell wrote in a letter that was e-mailed to students.
This will bring the fall 2009 budget to about $250,000, which could potentially bring in a more popular artist than was initially expected.
For students who will be graduating in the spring, Mitchell has appointed a five-member SGA task force to decide how they will benefit from the student entertainment fee that everyone pays as part of their tuition. Mitchell said he is leaning toward providing some sort of voucher that will allow graduating students to still attend next fall’s concert for free, but the committee has not reached a decision as of yet.
“I would like to make clear that the SGA’s BUC Fund (the fund which provides funding to student organizations for events and activities) will not be affected by this decision,” Mitchell said in his e-mail. “The BUC Fund provides financial support for most student organization activities on campus for students; I feel that this is an invaluable part of campus life and thus will be protected from any adverse affects of the University’s financial situation.”
TJ Mitchell can be contacted with questions and concerns at sga@etsu.edu.

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