By Allyson Savin

Springfest ’04 was postponed. This should not be news to you. Fall fest ’04 is set to happen Sept. 18 with the biggest concert ever at Northeastern.

Yet, with all of the anticipation for Busta Rhymes, it is all too easy to get caught up in the excitement of an incredible concert. I hate to be the party pooper and give the sober reminder, but let us not forget that we almost were not allowed to have major programming on this campus.

After the riots, after the postponed Springfest concert, students were given another chance. Students cried out that several students’ behavior was not indicative of 14,000. Students protested and stood up for our right for safe programming. Students should be reminded of just how much rides on this concert’s success.

Although the university is prepared to trust again, the community is not as forgiving or ready. Northeastern students have a habit of forgetting that we share the same space, the same streets, the same apartment buildings and the same neighborhood as working parents, young children, senior citizens and many more. The success of this concert hinges upon the word of the students who said we could be trusted.

Five thousand students gathering for a concert at Matthews Arena makes Northeastern an easy target for the community to get upset. Please, if you’d like to have another concert, if you want to be able to write home and tell your friends about all the cool programming at Northeastern, act responsibly. Don’t be the one student that ruins it for everyone else. I know how frustrated students can get at the university, but to ruin programming at Northeastern indefinitely with another incident with the community just because you felt like getting rowdy and drunk, just doesn’t seem worth it.

Let’s respect the community we live in and put our best foot forward.

Students were upset at the reputation that was cast on our university and we were upset because our long-awaited Springfest concert was postponed. Hopefully, that is enough to keep us all in check before, during and after this concert.

Now is the time to show our neighbors we can handle large-scale events, that we can be trusted in large numbers and that we, too, care about the community in which we live. See you at the show.

— Allyson Savin is a middler international business and marketing major and is the president of the Council for University Programs.