The Student Government Association voted to deactivate one of the most popular clubs on campus, because of a series of rule breaks. The Music Industry Club lost its club status early last month, based on recommendations made by John Marra, interim coordinator of Student Activities and Volunteer Services, and Debra Balestra, interim director of the Office of Student Involvement. "They were told of the actions they needed to take, and they chose not to on several occasions," Balestra said. Balestra declined to go into the specifics of what exactly happened that prompted the decision to recommend that the club be deactivated, but said that it was based on a consistent pattern of behavior. The decision came just days before the Music Industry Club's highly promoted G.P.A. concert. As a result, the concert was cancelled because college rules state that a deactivated club cannot hold any events on campus. "If I have a sense that an event is going to be unsafe, it's my responsibility to acknowledge and address it," Balestra said. The SGA first activated the Music Industry Club in the fall semester, and since that time the club grew to about 30 members, and also released a CD and recorded a music video for their single "Hold On," a tribute to victims of Hurricane Katrina. Pete "Petey Pete" Brunwasser, the president of the Music Industry Club founded it at the beginning of the fall semester. He said that ultimately the responsibility for the club's deactivation falls on him. "I don't blame anybody, if anything I blame myself," he said. He pointed to a strained relationship with the Office of Student Involvement as the source of the problem. He said that he felt uncomfortable in their offices and often felt disrespected. "Sometimes they made me feel like I was a deviant," he said. "The decision to deactivate the club was unfair," Brunwasser said, "the accusations were so little." He added that he felt the decision was personal, and had a lot to do with the perception of hip-hop as a violent culture. "We're human beings, but to take away something we worked hard for because of feelings…" SGA members contend that the decision was based solely on unruly actions of the club. "He had been asked several times to get his club in order," said Max Silverstein, SGA president. Silverstein said he felt that deactivation was the right thing to do. "If the [club] officers aren't doing what they're supposed to, then we have no choice," he said. Stephen Jean-Louis, chair of the Student Activities Board, said he felt bad about deactivating the club because he knows that some of the members didn't break any rules. "We have to judge the club on the whole and not by individuals," Jean-Louis said. He said that one of the contributing factors to the deactivation was that the club printed up flyers in the Mac Lab without permission. Stanley Ralph, performing arts professor and faculty adviser to the club, echoed Silverstein's sentiment. "It was the only decision they could make, because if they did not, it would show favoritism," Ralph said. One of the events that contributed to the deactivation was when Brunwasser walked into one of Ralph's classrooms while his class was in session, Marra said. Marra said he felt that Brunwasser crossed the line on that occasion. "For me the classroom is like a sanctuary," he said, "you just don't do it." Ralph did not feel offended by it. "I have no gripe with Pete," he said, adding that Brunwasser is a good person who sometimes forgets the rules. Marra also pointed to incidents where seven members from the Music Industry Club interrupted a rehearsal of the Campus Players at the theater of the Cultural Arts Center and that they club sold donuts between Academic I and Academic II last fall without the approval of the Office of Student Involvement. Overall, Marra said they consistently "circumvented" the procedures outlined it the Club Start-Up Kit. "We asked them to do 'A,' and they would do 'B,'" Marra said. He pointed to the fact that their CD was never reviewed by Ralph, among other things.
Music Industry Club deactivated
G.P.A. concert cancelled because of SGA decision
Published: Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Updated: Tuesday, August 11, 2009 02:08
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