To the Social Programming Board,

I am writing this note in response to the recent announcement that All-American Rejects will be the headlining act at this year’s spring WILD concert. While plenty of students are enamored with the notion of the once-popular quartet performing seventh-grade dance essentials on campus, I myself am not. My opinion on the band, however, is ultimately irrelevant to my overarching contention.

While I was initially disappointed by the selection, I had no intention of taking action until reading the following quotation pulled directly from the Student Life announcement article:

“[Social Programming Board] WILD director and sophomore Nick Koutrakis said the band received the second most votes on the spring WILD survey sent out by SPB earlier this year.”

Rumors swirled last year about Waka Flocka Flame’s selection to headline WUStock, and his subsequent unavailability resulting in the propulsion of MKTO onto the South 40 stage. The validity of the rumor was in question, and the lack of a formal Congress of the South 40 address on the subject all but confirmed that it might perhaps have been smoke without a fire.

But in the case of the spring WILD concert, a representative from SPB publicly and willingly admitted to penciling in a musical act that does not represent the popular selection. The reason for the executive order, as stated in the Student Life announcement, is that the rock band will provide “a nice change” in contrast to the DJs and rap artists who have graced the Brookings Quadrangle stage as the direct result of student body popular opinion. Why SPB anticipates that students will enjoy the “refreshing” change is a mystery, especially when the organization’s official release acknowledges the popularity of hip-hop and electronic among the population for which SPB provides its services.

Sure, SPB, being the body that books the musical acts in the first place, may have every right in the world to select the artist whom it deems is most appropriate for the WILD stage (after all, it is in charge of the whole thing). But if SPB is going to ignore popular will for almost completely arbitrary reasons, then why should it offer a vote in the first place?

Perhaps, as with the Waka Flocka Flame rumor, the top selection was unavailable, ushering All-American Rejects into first place. But if that is the case, then it seems SPB and perhaps even CS40 both have an unfortunate history of teasing students with concert prospects that can ultimately never come to fruition. The processes of WILD candidate selection are unclear to the general student body, but announcing candidates that have no chance of or interest in performing is an unfair seduction that doesn’t reflect too kindly on the Social Programming Board.

Compounding matters is the fact that fall WILD 2016 will be canceled, presumably in deference to the highly anticipated presidential debate coming to campus. As a result, the next concert held in Brookings Quadrangle will be a full year after spring WILD 2016. Such a layoff only accentuates SPB’s mismanagement of this year’s spring concert. Because the student body is already being deprived of a concert in the near future, now is not the time to ignore the opinion of the masses in the name of change.

In reference to my earlier point about voting: perhaps if SPB wishes to promote a particular music act, it should offer both a preliminary vote with the usual 10 plus candidates, and a second vote months later, between the top two vote-getters in an attempt to sway whichever students voted for the least popular and subsequently eliminated options towards an act that was only second best in the primary. Whether or not SPB adopts a voting amendment, my hope is that in the future, the group will no longer fail to represent the popular will of the student body with only a prayer that we will “enjoy the change” as its justification.