Following the precedent set last year, Spring Fling will again be a dry event but may be even shorter this year, as the university cuts the number of headlining acts from three to two.
The decisions to shorten the program, planned this year for April 30, and prohibit alcohol both stem from recommendations made by last year's Alcohol Task Force, a group composed of students, faculty and staff to explore possible changes to Spring Fling. Dean of Student Affairs Bruce Reitman chartered the group in the fall of 2009 following a mass casualty incident that took place at Spring Fling the prior year, in which the number of patients exceeded the emergency services available.
Concert Board had explored three bands — RJD2, The Roots and Biz Markie — to play the event, but dropped Biz Markie from the lineup in March in order to comply with the university's recommendation to shorten the length of the event, according to Concert Board co−Chair Kelsey Schur, a junior. The concert has traditionally started at around noon and lasted five hours, according to Schur. Doors this year will open at noon; headlining act The Roots are scheduled to take the stage at 3 p.m.
Concert Board had not signed a contract with Biz Markie before it was notified about the event's shortened length, so it was easier to cancel the act, Schur said.
"It wasn't as big a deal as it could have been," she said.
Still, she was disappointed that the rapper would not perform at Spring Fling.
"It was kind of a bummer for us, because he's really funny," she said.
Programming Board co−Chair Adam Fischer said his board supported the reduction in the number of performers.
"We on Programming Board agreed that the nature of the event just didn't necessarily call for three bands," Fischer, a senior, said.
Fischer said that the length of a three−band concert would likely prompt students to drink more in advance so that the effect of the alcohol would last longer into the event, he said.
Concert Board opposed last year's changes, Schur said.
"Concert Board was against turning it into a dry event," she said. "We were dead−set against it."
"We didn't feel like a six pack brought in by a senior was really getting people drunk," Schur said. "What's really getting people drunk is pounding liquor before the event."
Programming Board co−Chair Sarah Habib, a senior, said last year's dry policy served to decrease the number of hospitalizations for alcohol−related illness from the year before.
"We had a reduced number of [medical] transports," she said, comparing the previous year to 2009.
Habib expected the rule to remain in place this year and does not anticipate it changing in the foreseeable future.
"Somebody would have to challenge that rule for there to be an analysis of it," she said. "It's not something that I would see the university changing its opinion on."
She emphasized that Programming Board is not involved in the administrative decision−making process regarding Spring Fling.
Large student events such as Fall Ball, Winter Bash and Senior Pub Nights have been more successful and less marked by alcohol abuse than in the past, he said.
"This year, compared to last year, the big events have been more successful," he said, adding that they were "less marred by abuse of dangerous drinking [and] hospitalizations."
This improvement in drinking culture may be a reflection of last year's effort on campus to curb overdrinking.
"I think [alcohol abuse] was very much a part of campus dialogue last year," he said. "There was a lot more awareness and attention to the issue than in previous years."
"I'm hoping we continue that track record with Spring Fling," he added.
Fischer said the dry policy did not negatively affect the event last April.
"I haven't heard that it detracted from the experience at all," he said.
Schur called last year's Spring Fling more "low−key," which she attributed not solely to the lack of alcohol but the larger concert atmosphere, including weather and performers. Temperatures were unusually high at the 2009 event.
"There's a difference between seeing Ludacris on a 95−degree day and seeing OK Go and Drake on a nice day," Schur said.
Reitman cited this increased awareness of alcohol−abuse issues as a factor in what he deemed a successful Spring Fling last year, especially in light of the mass casualty incident one year earlier.
"The concert was reviewed as being as successful as ever," Reitman said. "It was a very successful day, compared to the previous year."
Schur said she still expected the event to be a success.
"I think everybody's going to have a really good time this year," she said. "We're really proud of this, and we've put a lot of work into it."
