This discussion completely went South. My point was to infer that we need a unified campus. Not to discuss whether Erykah Badu, Justin Bieber, or Lady Black Mombazza is an act worthy of my attendance.

Good lord. If you think the campus is unified by having 1,000 people at Madeine Jah or whoever you just mentioned - great. I just don't think we're doing ourselves any favors fundraising from OU graduates by bringing stratifying acts, speeches, and athletic events to campus.

I'm right. 

I remember traveling to Oxford in years past to see shows there. But I can't, for the life of me, recall any 'great' concert experiences during my time in Athens. -other than the Dugout/Swindlefish, but I wouldn't call them concerts.

My guess is the budget, or something is vastly different between the two schools. Budget, creativity,  foresight, or something. Because even today, I'm tempted to go down to Oxford to see more shows. But not really in Athens. (granted part of it could be lack of publicizing, because I didn't know Mitch Hedberg went to Athens either). 

Always room for improvement.

By the way, I've always wondered why we don't schedule some comedian after a hoops game. Seems like a surefire way to sell tickets. Maybe I'm nuts. John Caparulo is a MAC grad, seems like a good enough fit for January 15th when we need a huge crowd in the Convo, no?

ben


OK, google to the rescue. Given a full Convo, (13000)  here's how much every seat would have to chip in for the act:
Girl Talk $2
Drake $5
Kid Cudi $4
Wiz Khalifa $1
J Cole $1
Cypress Hill $3
G Love $3
Katy Perry $7
Ratatat $1
Santigold $3
Lil Wayne $7
Rick Ross $2
Daniel Tosh $1

Granted, I know there's more to it than ponying up for an act. But I may have to get with Alan on this promotion thing...

I don't know Dragon, I've met a lot of people in their 30's and 40's who've graduated from OU, are super-excited when I tell them that I too, am an OU Alum and when I ask them when was the last time they went to campus the answer is something like "umm... 1998!"

Granted that's another anecdote, but I'd love to see some numbers on the % of people who've been out for 10 years who give to the University. I bet it's a lower number than we think. Beyond the obligatory Halloween, Court Street, and Party School discussions I'm usually out of things to talk about with these people quickly, and it helps me understand why they haven't been back in years if those are their memories... memories that have to be fostered for most while they're still in school.

I'm just saying, I see the OU license plate holders and have the "OU, I spent some of the best years of my life there!" conversations too. If you take it a layer deeper we could probably improve on alumni connections, involvement, donations, etc. Not sure the UPC is the right group to direct the ire at, but if Love is saying we could do better, I think he's got a point.

You are just taking things completely out of context now. I said that speakers, concerts, and athletics are great avenues to build unity. Classwork, Professors, Greek Life, Residence Life, etc are other ways. On top of that, I said Increased Unity = increased alumni support in the form of donations.

I never made a direct correlation b/w choice of music concert and alumni donations. That's just a fabrication, Dragon.

It's the total package that affects the experience.

And further....if you are in Columbus on Saturday - I'll happily point out large groups of OU alums tailgating around the horseshoe wearing #2 jerseys (not green/white) who give good sums of money to Ohio State in the forms of donations, merchandise, and ticket sales...and who have NEVER set foot in a classroom there.

Unity at Ohio University? My ass.

Well, again, I just think you are incorrect about the lack of unity.  Its there.  

The last 4 years the university has been breaking fundraising records year after year.  

Why?  My guess is the university got much more serious/aggressive within its University Advancement department.  And, that will pay off more than anything UPC does.

But, I still think something about UPC (funding, makeup of committee, oversight) could be improved. 

On a tangential note from Love's initial premis, in Jim Schaus' five year plan for the Athletic Department, one of the strategic initiatives listed was to utilize athletics oriented assets for alternate revenue streams (i.e. concerts, etc), and to this point, I have seen nothing to suggest that is happening.

I agree that scheduling in the Convo may be difficult during the school year, and admittedly I may be an old fuddy duddy at 44.  But for example, if you had DMB in Peden, it would sell out, regardless of how many students attended, and it would make money for the University, especially if they were the promoter.  No offense to the students, but if Ohio holds a great event that will sell out one of the stadiums, regardless of whether or not you are interested, you will benefit from the trickle down.  I don't think student fees should support such an event, and I think you should benefit from the proceeds through reduced tuition.

Back in the days of Springfest, the intramural fields were full of students from across the mid-west, and regional and national acts would come into town.   Although I don't know it for a fact, I would have to imagine that the University and the greater Athens market made considerable profits during that period.  This was unfortunately stopped because Ohio didn't want to be associated with such a sanctioned "party", attempting to shed its party school image.  It was replaced by the current "fests", which are really boosting the image of Ohio, and off of which Ohio is not profiting. (if anything it costs the University money due to increased security/etc.)

People will travel to Athens for the right events, and the university needs to use its assets to their fullest potential, especially in these difficult economic times.  It will help the school and the community.  Party school image be damned.  That image has clearly turned around in the last ten years or so, hasn't it.

Just saying.

Agree to an extent,  but I'm going to play Devil's Advocate as well because I see both sides.

UPC knows they're going to get a budget of peanuts, like they always do.  Should they be gambling some, and trying to hit home runs with their early performers and build up their budget through the year, leading to an actual A-list Spring Quarter show, or should they continue to play small ball and bring in interesting and diverse things though they break even at best and not too many care.  Both approaches will make different people happy, and both are acceptable.

I understand they're handcuffed by the size of Memaud, but assuming there was a workaround (including charging an actual proper value for a show... we all like the cheaper prices but if actual market value leads to building their budget I think it would be fine) I think it could work.

Well, OK, I guess we'll have to agree to disagree regarding campus unity and affection for alma mater. 

I think bobcatlove and bobcat695 are pinning their beliefs too much on attendance/interest in football and basketball.  That has more to do with consistently pathetic football teams (94 wins, 188 losses in last 25 years), an overrated basketball program (just 3 NCAA appearances in the last 20 years), and not being in a BCS conference than campus unity me thinks.

By the way, from what I can tell, the average national average for alumni participation in giving hovers around 10%-12%.  With 195,000 alums and an average of 28,200 alums giving each of the last 2 years, OU is at 14%.

Still doesn't mean we couldn't do better with events on campus and bringing in more alums and etc..  But, things aren't as bad as some think.

What about the 4 season tickets for $99 package? That's as dirt cheap for college football as it gets. I have co-workers who are Marshall fans that are thinking about buying that for next year, because they figure that Huntington is close enough to Athens that some Saturday when Marshall is on the road it would just be fun to go to Athens to watch college football and enjoy the night life. I gotta believe that there are enough alumni/general college football fans in Columbus, Parkersburg, and other decent-sized towns within a reasonable driving distance that would feel the same way. I'm just not sure if they know about the deal.

69, unless I miss something bobcat695 doesn't mention the UPC and really isn't talking about them. He didn't say that the UPC needed to give alums a more compelling reason to come back, he said the University does.

I think when Love started this he really laid the hammer down on the UPC (there's generally a good amount of collateral damage that occurs when Love makes a point), but it has since evolved to questions on if campus is "unified" and how to get alums to come back to town and/or donate (regardless of the UPC, or any other group really) which I think is still a fair question.

So in the interest of moving the discussion forward, I'll respond to your last sentence... You're right, I don't think UPC's mission is/should be to get alums to come back to campus (Love's point would be by doing better at serving current students the UPC would get people to remember Athens even more fondly and come back more often). If you agree that there's a problem with getting alums back to town, who's mission should it be and how should it get done? Discuss...