Asher Roth is a polarizing figure.
He's quickly become one of those artists people either love or hate, and while his single "I Love College" has infiltrated everywhere from apartment parties to national television, there's a large contingent of people who think otherwise.
At this point, no one's more aware of these powerfully conflicting viewpoints than Wallypalooza organizer and University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA) representative Mike Wallace. After all, he is the person responsible for booking the up-and-coming rapper.
Wallace (junior-economics) has been at the center of a war of words that's been waged on Facebook walls and in The Daily Collegian's opinion section ever since the announcement last week that Roth would be headlining the show.
The Wallypalooza '09 event wall was deluged with complaints about the choice, with wildly exorbitant rumors thrown around at will.
The show's proponents have also waded into the fray. The mudslinging from both sides reached such a point that event organizers decided to disable comments on the wall.
When a swarm of complaints about organizers trying to censor their critics pressured them into reopening comments, it sparked a fresh wave of bickering.
Wallace is learning what Movin' On organizers already knew: It's impossible to please everybody all of the time.
In the red corner:
Because Wallace has spent the better part of the academic year working to make Wallypalooza a reality, he said he's disappointed in the amount of backlash that has accompanied the event.
Wallace said every UPUA representative is charged at the beginning of the fall semester with formulating a goal to work toward throughout the school year. He had noticed Penn State is lacking some of the "alternative programming" -- essentially entertainment for students -- many other schools have. So, he proposed a free outdoor festival with music, food and other entertainment.
The idea was originally seen as a pipe dream, but things started to come together at the beginning of this semester. Wallace proposed his idea to the University Park Allocation Committee (UPAC) and secured funding for the event.
"I had to get together a budget with written quotes on what we'd be renting for the show," Wallace said. "I put a lot of time and work into it."
UPUA President Gavin Keirans is Wallace's roommate, which has fueled implications, such as those from Devan Kochersperger, a member of Students Organizing the Multiple Arts (SOMA), that Wallace may have somehow used Keirans' power to obtain money from UPAC. However, Wallace said Keirans had nothing to do with the process.
Keirans (junior-business management), who described Wallypalooza as a "student appreciation festival" said he has no vote in UPUA's general assembly or in UPAC about approving the event, so any insinuation of a conflict of interest is a misconception.
Wallace said he thinks some of the people complaining about the total cost of the show might also not realize how much money it takes to put on an outdoor show like Wallypalooza.
"The stage alone is $13,000, and sound and lights are $8,000," Wallace said.
In the blue corner:
Kochersperger has been one of Wallypalooza's most vocal critics, especially on the Facebook wall.
"There are so many things wrong with Wallypalooza, I couldn't begin to get into them all," Kochersperger (freshman-history) said, citing the lack of student input in booking acts as an example.
He said he tried to use the Facebook forum as an outlet for his frustration with the lack of student input in the event.
"I've tried to be civil," Kochersperger said.
However, some of the responses to those criticizing the event have been insensitive or downright offensive, he said. Kochersperger cited a number of obscenity-laced posts directed at those criticizing the event, most of which came from a scattering of people unaffiliated with the event.
One post in particular, however, crossed the line, he said -- when UPUA director of media Adam Ferrone waded into the argument. Kochersperger said Ferrone resorted to insulting him based on the length of his name, which surprised him considering Ferrone's involvement with UPUA.
Kochersperger added he had expected UPUA to step in to mediate some of the personal attacks made on the wall.
Kochersperger, along with several other opponents of Wallypalooza, created a Facebook group in response to the event, called "UPUA President Gavin Keirans Should Resign." The group accuses Keirans of "cronyism" in securing funding for the festival.
Keirans said he reached out to the creators of the "UPUA President Gavin Keirans Should Resign" group earlier in the semester, conveying to them that UPUA is always interested in helping and working with organizations such as SOMA, and would do so for the future of Wallypalooza.
"We are happy to support these organizations, but it needs to be done in open conversations beyond Facebook groups," Keirans said.
After SOMA was charged with damaging the HUB-Robeson Center earlier in the semester, Keirans fought to defend SOMA.
Keirans also added he launched a "Why I Love Wallypalooza" contest in which contestants who submitted reasons for why they supported the event to a Web site received free Wallypalooza T-shirts.
As for the headliner Roth, he's become the sparkplug for the debate. The polarizing effect he has on people has only served to amplify arguments about the proper use of student funds. In defense of the booking, Wallace said Roth's current popularity and price were the perfect mix for a show such as Wallypalooza. While Roth has been all over MTV, the cost to book him hasn't gone through the roof yet.
"He's on his way up," Wallace said. "In my opinion, it was foresight."
Wallace said UPAC's requirements on using the money for the event had a big impact on the acts UPUA could book for Wallypalooza. UPAC Overall Chairwoman Kendra Carr said UPAC has strict guidelines on how provided money can be used.
"It played into how the money was allocated," Wallace said, adding UPAC provided $20,000 for booking the musical acts with the stipulation that only up to $10,000 could be spent on the headliner.
Another requirement UPAC imposed was that UPUA had to provide 20 percent of the total cost of the event. As a result, UPUA contributed $10,000 in addition to the $48,000 from UPAC.
However, some of the other more established acts Wallace was looking into booking would have cost several times more than Roth and far exceeded the $10,000 limit. Wallace said he even had to negotiate Roth down from $15,000 to keep the booking under UPAC's imposed limit.
Kochersperger said the choice to book Roth is insulting to Penn State students, because Roth's hit "I Love College" paints the college experience to an extremely stereotypical degree.
"Not everyone who goes to Penn State is like that," Kochersperger said, referring to the depiction of college life in the song.
He cited the University of Georgia as a counterpoint to the notion that students at a school like Penn State must have a singular view on the importance of Animal House-style partying to the college lifestyle. Though UGA is also a large public school, it's located in Athens, a town that has produced several high-profile bands and is known for its strong music scene.
Kochersperger said a number of bands with greater artistic integrity would've jumped at the chance to play a large festival show such as Wallypalooza, and for a fraction of the cost. In his opinion, booking Roth is paying $10,000 for a career one-hit wonder. However, he acknowledged the plight of organizers trying to cater to the array of tastes that come with a campus of 40,000 students.
"I'm not doubting that there are people who are going to want to see Asher Roth," Kochersperger said.
Lauren Saftlas, who helped organize Wallypalooza, said the show offers a chance for students to unwind, regardless of how they feel about Roth. She said the festival offers several different entertainment options beyond the music.
"I just see the festival as something that was put together to give students something to do at the end of the year," Saftlas (sophomore-education) said.
One of the other main complaints with Wallypalooza is one that was already leveled at Movin' On earlier this year: Booking decisions were made by a small group of people.
"If you're taking money from the student activity fee, it deserves some student input," Kochersperger said.
However, unlike Movin' On, Wallypalooza's organizers are just getting their feet wet with this festival. Kochersperger said a $60,000 show is not the ideal venue for promoters to get their first experience in the business. He said there are several student groups on campus that exclusively book shows for students, yet never see the kind of money UPUA obtained for Wallypalooza.
"In SOMA, we live to book concerts," Kochersperger said.
Facebook's ability to reach a wide selection of students would have made it an ideal forum for collecting student opinion on which acts to book, Kochersperger said. He suggested a poll open to students for voting for a headlining act.
Kochersperger said one of the arguments that has been made in favor of the use of student funds for this show has been that $60,000 divided among the entire Penn State student population means a low cost per student. However, considering the amount of people who will actually attend the show, the cost is much higher.
Wallace said although he's received criticism for the music Wallypalooza will offer, his original intention for the festival was to give students a wider selection of music to choose from. He made a conscious decision to book acts that differed from those that played at Movin' On.
"I don't understand why we have to have only one music festival," Wallace said.
Kochersperger said the Wallypalooza organizers had good intentions for the show, but a much greater amount of student input in the booking process is necessary to make the show a success.
"Their hearts were in the right place," Kochersperger said. "On the surface, it's a good idea."
Collegian staff writer Neha Prakash contributed to this article.
