It is very encouraging that Duke Student Government, Campus Council and Duke University Union were all able to coordinate with one another to secure funding for Of Montreal to play a free show for Duke students Sept. 29 (see the Sept. 13 article, "Funds finalized for bands"). Significant effort had been put into the preparations for the show and luckily the event will take place as part of DUU's Oktoberfest festivities.
Despite the happy ending, however, it is important that students understand the precarious situation that the organizations, specifically DSG, were put in by funding this event. AQUADuke was the original underwriter of the concert, as a headline for its "Coming Out Week," but they withdrew their funding suddenly for reasons that have not been sufficiently explained. Their actions in this situation are inexcusable, and the Student Organization and Finance Committee is currently investigating whether they inappropriately allocated funds in deciding to no longer fund the performance.
This is very likely the only time Duke Student Government will be willing to fill a similar funding request, as we do not wish to set a precedent whereby groups can make arrangements for programming and then manipulate student governance organizations into underwriting the events after-the-fact. We hope you all enjoy the show Sept. 29, but we offer this warning to student organizations that they should allocate their money wisely and then follow through on their financial commitments.
Elliott Wolf
President, Duke Student Government
Trinity '08
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