The musical acts at Homecoming tend to be third-tier. In the interest of saving money, we suppose, the Student Activities Board brings in people like Eric Hutchinson, Tyler Hilton and Chingy. These performers aren’t bad, but they just aren’t great, either.

SAB tries their hardest to keep the concerts free to students, which is commendable, but it would be a better idea to attempt to bring in larger, more prolific performers such as Kanye West, The New Pornographers, The Strokes or JET, and charge a small amount-say, $5-for students and full-price for the rest of the community. Most students wouldn’t mind paying so little to get to see Kanye West come to their college.

Perhaps SAB also could do more to advertise to the rest of the St. Louis community, who no doubt would flock the school in numbers if an artist of renown came.

It seems like they are insulating their activities from the outside world, keeping them more or less all-SLU events. Whether this is because of poor advertising off campus or of an actual intent to remain exclusive is uncertain, but it is harming the reputation of SAB and the University in general.

It would definitely be beneficial for both SLU and the community if we widely advertised a few good acts and attempted to bring the rest of the world (and their money) to our campus; this way, SLU gets good publicity while students get to see some solid performances for a very reasonable price. Everyone wins.