Student organizations planning programs in the HUB-Robeson Center will now be required to distribute wristbands before events -- a new policy issued in response to December's chaotic Girl Talk concert.
Any student organization planning an event in any room of the HUB must now use wristbands to keep track of capacity and attendance, Senior Associate Director of Unions and Student Activities Judy Albin said.
The new policy comes after students waiting in line for a free Dec. 11 concert -- sponsored by Students Organizing the Multiple Arts (SOMA) -- destroyed one of the doors to Alumni Hall, toppled a newspaper rack and damaged one of the HUB's pillars.
"We're not going to say this means you can no longer do concerts. ... They're going to be allowed to do them but within a parameter," Albin said. "It would be a huge mistake for us to say, 'We're not going to do this anymore in the HUB.' If not the HUB, then where?"
The number of wristbands allocated will depend on what type of event is being held, she added.
"If people don't have a wristband, then there's no need for you to come because you're not going to get in," she said. "Once the wristbands are gone, they're gone."
Albin said University Park Allocation Committee (UPAC) officials were concerned that non-students attended the concert on Dec. 11.
"Any time UPAC funds an event or any time the student activity fee is used, University Park students have first dibs on whatever the event is," Albin said. "For this particular event, Girl Talk, [SOMA] didn't check IDs. It was just mad chaos."
Albin added she estimates more than half the concertgoers were not University Park students.
There is no official word on how much money SOMA will pay for damages to the HUB, but SOMA Vice President Danny Michelson said he regrets the concert was not kept strictly students-only.
"We've never done an event this huge before, so obviously we made mistakes," Michelson said. "I didn't expect this many people to come. We went through UPAC, which -- they made this a point and I agree with them -- is Penn State students' money and we should have solely made it for Penn State students."
Kendra Carr, UPAC overall chairwoman, said the committee has not yet discussed what specific action will be taken in regard to SOMA.
"I believe that there will be a lot of policies through the university that are being changed, not specifically from UPAC," Carr (junior-finance) said. "Our committee is students, so all we consider is events to fund, but we can't necessarily give disciplinary action for people that didn't follow the rules."
Carr said the committee is open to working with SOMA again in the future.
Michelson said though SOMA will pay for the HUB damage, the full cost has not yet been calculated.
"We might not be able to afford all of it, so they haven't told us what's going to happen if we can't afford it," he said. "I never actually planned on SOMA getting in trouble. We're not exactly a troublemaking kind of group. All I know is that we all learned from this, and we know what to do and what not to do."
The Girl Talk incident was an "out-of-classroom experience" for all parties involved, Albin said.
"We would prefer the building not be destroyed, obviously ... but we've learned some things and the student organization has learned some things," she said. "I think there will be a rippling effect. For years to come, we'll remember the Girl Talk program."
