Students call for commercial events on campus

One of the biggest perks of being a student in San Diego is easy access to tons of events, including festivals, plays, concerts, and live shows. There’s almost nothing better than seeing your favorite band or comedian live. Often times students at the University of San Diego spend their weekends attending these types of events.

San Diego is an event hub  where many big name acts pass through the county, making all types of entertainment easily accessible. USD’s close proximity to the downtown area gives students access to many of these events. However, at some universities, large commercial events, such as concerts and stand up comedians, are hosted on the campus itself.

Although USD is considered a small campus, there are certainly places that could accommodate smaller commercial events.In the past, USD has hosted bands such as Imagine Dragons and Atlas Genius.

While it’s not feasible to expect the next Beyoncé concert to be held in the JCP, many smaller scale artists or productions could easily be held on campus. For students living on or near campus, access to these types of events would be a great alternative for students that don’t want to be forced off campus to find some fun.

Senior Jade Ortencio noted that students at many neighboring universities have the benefit of attending events hosted on campus.

“Hosting more events like concerts would be a great attribute to USD,” Ortencio said. “Many of [our] students go to SDSU or UCSD for concerts, so having those types of events here could create an inclusive and safe place for students to unwind from stressful student life.”

For many students, being able to attend more events on campus would simplify the event process. Instead of having to worry about getting to the location on time, finding parking, and navigating the venue, students would be able to simply walk to the concert and be guaranteed to get home safely.

While the school does play host to many events, including guest speakers, film screenings, and sporting events, USD students have to travel to other campuses or venues to enjoy more commercialized events.

Senior Therese Fazio questioned how commercial events would work on USD’s campus.

“It would be nice, but I don’t know if USD has the right setup for concerts like UCSD and SDSU,” Fazio said. “We are so much smaller.”

Because of our size, there are definitely some things that would need to be considered before USD could host commercial events. How the university would handle community members coming onto campus, parking, noise levels, and event specifics, like if the sale of alcohol would be permitted, are all things to be considered.

Senior Victoria Simon has dealt first hand with these issues in her position of Torero Program Board’s Vice Chair of Entertainment.

“The most difficult part is figuring out what artist the students at USD would love the most, and also working with administration to get the artist approved,” Simon said. “That is probably the hardest part. It takes up to five months to plan a concert and contact artists we are interested in.”

Despite this work, Simon concluded that her effort is well spent.

“Overall, it is a very rewarding process when we are able to see the final result of the students enjoying the show,” Simon said.

Not only would hosting more of these commercial events be enjoyable for students, and help keep students on campus on the weekends, but it could also potentially bring substantial revenue to the university. This revenue could then be used to directly benefit the school by being filtered back into school funds.

With the university’s annual Big Blue Bash and Homecoming Concert tomorrow, it is clear that the school is capable of accommodating these types of events. While it’s unlikely the school will start hosting major events like this on a regular basis, once in awhile, with proper planning, these types of events could be an asset to the school.

By Dani DeVries, Opinion Editor