S.L. FULLER
Assistant News Editor
After a week of suspension, Spectrum has been given permission to continue planning Fred Fest. During that week, Vice President of Student Affairs, Dr. David Herman, held multiple meetings with representatives of all student groups to discuss ways to control house parties during Fred Fest weekend. This included student athletes, sororities and fraternities and concluded with a General Assembly meeting last Thursday.
The meeting was an open forum which gave club representatives a chance to ask questions and make comments concerning Fred Fest. Also in attendance were the mayor of Fredonia, Stephen Keef, and chairman of the University Senate, Dr. Rob Deemer. The room was packed and everyone in attendance was eager to participate and share their concerns.
After opening remarks by both Herman and Keef, students began to form lines to make comments. Many topics were brought to light during this time. Some topics included sexual assault, which was addressed by Women’s Student Union; the profane nature of some Fred Fest apparel and the suggestion of a boycott, addressed by College Republicans; alcohol consumption, which was addressed by Club Rugby and the on-campus Fred Fest event, which was addressed by Spectrum through a brief question and answer period.
The first club to make a comment was Criminal Justice Club via its vice president, senior criminal justice major Stephen Gross. Gross addressed a variety of topics including the divide between students, administration and the Village of Fredonia.
“We’ve begun thinking of one another as adversaries when we should be thinking of one another as allies,” Gross said to the General Assembly. “We don’t have conflicting interests. We have mutual interests.”
Drawing on the idea of collaboration, Gross suggested, among other things, the formation of a task force. Gross explained it would consist of “students, the university and the village so that they can engage in a civil discourse to mitigate problems that we might come up against during Fred Fest.”
Deemer also agreed with the idea of collaboration and offered his services in the creation of the task force.
“It makes sense that even though University Senate is not a primary player in the discussion, I can at least offer assistance,” said Deemer who is also a professor and the head of the Music Composition Department. “I can find faculty who are willing to be part of a task force, especially those who live in the area.”
The University Senate is a division of administration much like Student Affairs and the Student Association are, except senate is made up of faculty who deal with things at the collegiate level such as curriculum. Even though senate will not take part in any decision-making regarding Fred Fest, Deemer feels that this topic truly involves everyone.
“I think [faculty] would be really happy to work with students and work with administration to be able to find good solutions for that,” said Deemer. “We just haven’t really had a mechanism that allows us to do so.”
Many other Fred Fest suggestions have been submitted during the week of suspension through meetings and surveys. Herman met with Spectrum last Friday to discuss the suggestions including those made during the General Assembly meeting.
Matthew Mincin, co-founder of FREDstock, expressed to students and staff that FREDstock was a different and separate event than Fred Fest. “On behalf of FREDstock’s team, we are proud to present Fredonia’s first music festival. This is not in affiliation with SUNY Fredonia,” Mincin said.
Before being asked to re-direct the conversation to Fred Fest specifically, Mincin talked about FREDstock. Mincin explained the venue for the festival had been changed, moving to Willow Creek Winery in Silver Creek, NY, an eight minute drive from campus. Additionally, the event is now taking place only on May 2 and 3.
“The Chautauqua County Fair Grounds were not suitable for the event this year with such short notice,” Mincin said. Free transportation to and from the event is being set up in hopes to reduce or eliminate drunk driving.
“I was hoping the student leaders would step up,” said Herman reflecting on the meeting, “and I thought a lot of them did.”
Herman filled in the University Senate on all that has been happening regarding Fred Fest at their meeting on Monday and aims to have a set plan for Fred Fest by Thursday of this week. Until then, Spectrum and Student Affairs will take every single comment made into consideration when deciding what to implement into this year’s event.
Spectrum and Student Affairs have already decided they want to make official Fred Fest promotional videos and collaborate with other student organizations to extend the event and add more activities. These were both suggestions made by students.
Although it may feel like Fred Fest is going through a transition period, many students and faculty members feel as though the event is beginning to head in the right direction.
“I fear that many students feel that we have to choose between having fun and being safe,” said Gross to the General Assembly. “But in reality, I can assure you that we can and we will have both.”