The Facts: While planning for this year’s Wolfpack Welcome Week, the Union Activities Board was disallowed the use of Lee Field for the annual concert  at the end of the week due to administrative concerns.

Our Opinion: The UAB’s  production of  Wolfstock  has been negatively alter without just cause by  N.C . State’s administrating body, causing the the event, featuring Girl talk, to be moved to an off campus venue.

Thanks to the hard work and dedication of The Union Activities Board this year’s  Wolfstock  was slated to surpass any on-campus concert in years past. With Girl Talk headlining, a rebranding of the event and a great venue, Lee Field,  Wolfstock  had all of the elements its predecessors lacked. It sounded too good to be true and the administration made sure that it was through Christopher Dobek  disallowing the use of Lee Field. 

Dobek  grounds his decision to disallow the use of Lee Field, at the time leaving  Wolfstock  nowhere to be held, saying that it breaks the tradition of Friday Fest. What tradition is he talking about exactly?

Is he talking about the tradition of bringing lackluster bands to perform at  N.C . State?  Lifehouse  and  Augustana  may have some decent music, but they do not inspire fervor within the student body that Girl Talk does. Maybe it’s the change in date from Friday to Thursday that he takes issue with; however, the majority of us would prefer to have a concert like this on Thursday so as to not conflict with our weekend activities.

It could be the name change from Friday Fest to  Wolfstock  that hurts him the most, but, honestly, he’d be the only one to prefer that name. Seeing as all of the changes are more improvements than anything else, maybe what he really takes issue with is improving, the now defunct, Friday Fest.

It is not the role of administrators to interfere with the matters of students based on personal preference. The Union Activities Board was constituted as an organization “for the students, by the students”.  The  UAB  was designed in such a manner to most effectively bring the students a product that mirrors their interest, for with every administrator that touches a student project a portion of the original intent is lost.

There are situations where administration should step in and reel organizations, such as the  UAB , in.  For example: if the  UAB  had decided this year they wanted to have the concert off campus, a serious violation in tradition and the intent of the event, thus unifying the campus, then an administrator would have a right to step in and bring it back. However,  Dobek’s  decision did what it was exactly supposed to prevent, one of the only responsibilities in overseeing this events organization, keeping the event on campus.

At press time Wednesday, according to Ticket Central, only a handful of the 5500 tickets were left.  This mean roughly 5,500 student were passionate enough to find their way off campus to a University  sponsored event. It appears that, despite the best efforts of administrators to foil  Wolfstock , through the resilience of the UAB  and the passion of the student body this will be the best concert at state in recent memory.