It should come as no surprise to many Washington University students that Team 31 dropped the ball on Fall W.I.L.D. this year.

Not only is this semester’s lineup being released extremely late, just two weeks before the show, but it also consists of artists who are far from popular on campus. These failures aren’t a recent development—they’re symptomatic of a small, student-run organization with neither the resources nor the capability to produce out a great W.I.L.D. lineup. In light of this, we believe that Team 31 (in its current state) needs to go.

W.I.L.D. is a concert run largely by students, for students. Of course, no lineup has ever, or will ever, truly satisfy the tastes of everyone on this campus, and Team 31 does its best to accommodate as many tastes as possible. Nevertheless, Team 31’s choices have come up short in recent years—from Method Man and Redman’s lukewarm reception (even the artists themselves noticed) to just 50 percent of Major Lazer performing before Wale. This is not to say that Team 31 is doing a poor job or that they are deliberately ruining W.I.L.D. for everyone. Rather, W.I.L.D. is a gigantic event, financially and logistically, and expecting a double-digit student group to make the whole thing happen is just too much.

Given that W.I.L.D. is undeniably the biggest, and most hyped, event on campus, it is surprising that so little student input is involved. Although the Social Programming Board, a group made up of one representative from Team 31, one from the Gargoyle, one from CPC, two Student Union representatives and three students, does need to approve a list of artists, we believe the process should be more transparent. Any other student group wishing to bring a speaker to campus has to receive authorization from SU. W.I.L.D. is a larger-than-average event attended by a much greater portion of the student body; yet, the average student has little say in the artists.

It would make far more sense for the students to actively choose their own headliners, and this would ensure that students are actually getting the acts they want. Having direct student input does risk diluting the hype surrounding the concert, but W.I.L.D. hardly needs additional hype and most go to the concert regardless. The system implemented by CS40 last year to plan WUStock has so far yielded big-name artists that are generally popular on campus.

This is not to say that we must axe Team 31 altogether—the group’s primary purpose could instead be to assemble a slate of potential artists for all students to vote on. In light of the change in W.I.L.D.’s schedule, this would be a perfect way to avoid the last-minute rush by assembling a slate before students leave for the summer. And in a sense, this is partially what Team 31 currently does. Having more student input on major decisions is always a good thing, and with an event as big as W.I.L.D., such input is crucial.

Ultimately, Team 31 is superfluous—and in an effort to maintain hype, the organization’s existence has sacrificed making W.I.L.D. the student concert that it should be.

Student input is vital and Team 31’s structure specifically excludes such input from having an effect on W.I.L.D.’s lineup.

While most students will spend W.I.L.D. in a drunken stupor, the quality of the acts, especially given the amount of money spent, should be the highest priority.