While many of their peers were still perfecting their tans on the beach, Undergraduate Council (UC) members spent the weeks preceding the start of school making preparations for a fall concert, set for Nov. 6.

On Aug. 23, UC President Matthew J. Glazer ’06 called an emergency council session, conducted through e-mail, to introduce legislation that would allocate funds to a fall concert sponsored by the Harvard Concert Commission (HCC).

Though some UC representatives initially expressed discontent with the manner of the debate and the vote, the bill was passed with an unusually high participation rate, guaranteeing the HCC $30,000 toward securing an artist for a fall show.

Among the 21 potential artists listed in the bill were Nas, Beck, OAR, The Killers, Ludacris, and John Mayer. Glazer said he hoped to have an artist selected within the next two weeks.

The bill also gave the HCC maximum flexibility in its artist choice by including a clause allowing it to negotiate with artists as it saw fit.

According to Glazer, the HCC has already submitted bids to select artists and is in negotiation with a “handful” of artists’ agents.

The question of artist selection provoked responses from some UC representatives who were worried that the artist chosen to perform might not suit the tastes of all students.

UC representative Edward Y. Lee ’08 wrote in an e-mail to the UC’s open list that once the allocation was complete he worried the UC would lose the ability to veto artists.

But Glazer stood behind the HCC. “[HCC members] are selected because they have expertise in these areas and they can put on successful shows,” Glazer said yesterday.

He also pointed out that there were precautions in the rules and bylaws in place to check the HCC in its selection, including the ability of the executive board to remove officers from the HCC. Glazer also noted that the UC had oversight of the HCC’s selection because their bodies are intertwined.

Several UC representatives voiced confidence in HCC’s decision-making.

“I have faith—faith that HCC has earned by successfully bringing a diverse group of popular acts to Harvard in the past—that even if I personally don’t like the performer HCC chooses, that performer will nonetheless appeal to a large number of other people,” UC representative Sam Teller ’08, who is also a Crimson editor, wrote in an e-mail to the UC open list in August.

Besides providing a list of potential artists, the bill also included a budget for the concert that detailed estimated revenues—$114,500, including ticket sales—and offered a $30,000 allocation from the UC budget to offset some of the estimated cost of $124,266.

According to the budget, the HCC could spend up to $81,400 on an artist and associated expenses, but after the collected revenue for the entire concert is calculated, the UC is looking to spend no more than $30,000 on an artist. The budget also projected that the HCC would sell 1,600 student tickets at a price of $25 each.

VOTING CONTROVERSY