Campus Council deserves more credit

I was surprised that a Duke senior would disparage Last Day of Classes planning in such a blunt manner. Marcus Peterson did get in some witty digs at Collective Soul—however, a quick look at the facts would show that Campus Council has performed admirably in bringing diverse music to Duke over our four years here.

Peterson failed to mention that in our time here, Campus Council has brought in: Ludacris, Pharcyde, The Roots, Kanye West and of course, most importantly, at LDOC ’03 Campus Council found a way to get a stage and a microphone for senior point guard Andre Buckner and his rap crew.

Yes, it’s easy and entertaining to complain when you don’t count the Last Day of Classes band in your top five. But when Peterson demands a “universally entertaining, not audience specific” band, who does he have in mind? Outkast? (Too expensive). Dave Matthews? (Too frat-boy).

The truth is, Last Day of Classes would be one of the greatest days of the year even if Campus Council gave us “President Brodhead Does Karaoke In A Funny Hat.” We’ve been here long enough to know that it’s a chance to see other students for one last day as we prepare to crawl into the depths of Perkins with our Math 103 and Econ 55 textbooks for the next week.

Oh, and Peterson—don’t waste too much time waiting for Collective Soul to play “Runaway Train” on Wednesday. That was middle-school-dance-rock-group Soul Asylum.

Scott Lemmon

Trinity ’05