The Entertainment Committee (EC) occupies a unique role at Stevens, receiving a large amount of the student activity fee to plan subsidized events and experiences for the entire undergraduate body.
Many students wonder how the committee works. Any undergraduate can receive tickets to Broadway shows for just $20 a pop, for instance, but who decides how many tickets are available and for which shows? To find out more about the EC’s operations, The Stute spoke with Festivities Director Sara Wolf, Off-Campus Director Meredith Carson, Finance Director Paul Serrilli, and Operations Director Victoria Giumenta.
Their titles reflect the divisions of the Entertainment Committee; Sara, Meredith, and Victoria head the on-campus, off-campus, and operations sectors, respectively, while Paul directs the allocation of funding to each of those arms.
Paul spoke about the funding process, a critical operation given the EC’s relatively large budget. While 16% of the student activity fee goes to the Entertainment Committee, said Paul, it also receives funding from Undergraduate Student Life and the Student Government Association, as well as Graduate Student Life for certain events that are open to graduate students, like Winter Wonderland and Tech Fest. “I make sure all our expenses are accurately reported and that our revenue from events are given to Student Life,” said Paul. “I keep track of a spreadsheet [to do this] and upload all receipts and invoices.”
6% of that funding goes to operating costs, like marketing and promotional materials, about 58.5% goes to running on-campus events, and the remaining 38.5% is allocated for off-campus events. “We also have a separate budget dedicated solely to Techfest, and any leftover budget gets put into this account,” noted Paul. This funding pays for a number of free on-campus events, and allows off-campus events to cost only $20 for students, a subsidy proportion which ranges from 60% to 94% depending on the original cost of the event.
Event selection is based on a survey that’s sent to all undergraduates at the end of each semester. Relative popularity based on this survey, event availability, and prices are taken into consideration when events are scheduled.
Subsidized Broadway events and concerts allow students to have experiences that would normally cost hundreds of dollars for a small fraction of the price. The Entertainment Committee consists of about 30 students, and it’s they who collectively make the final decisions regarding what events are scheduled for each semester. Meredith outlined the selection process, saying that the Committee “[creates] a list of shows we want to see, [picks] dates, and [reaches] out to our Broadway contact to see prices. Then we either decide to purchase the tickets or not. The budget goes to these tickets as well as […] transportation.”
Meredith described the concert booking process too, noting the difficulty of obtaining unified seating areas for Stevens students. She stated, “For concerts, we buy our tickets off of SeatGeek. […] Tickets, fees, and [transportation tickets] are also part of the budget. We are also only allowed to buy four to eight tickets on a single account as per SeatGeek guidelines, which is why we have fewer concert tickets than other types of events.”
For off-campus events that don’t fit into these two categories, the process varies. The EC has agents for many events, like sporting games, while for others, the purchase is made directly on the organizer websites.
The event sign-up process, as many students already know, takes place on DuckLink on a first-come-first-serve basis. A maximum of 20% of tickets can go to EC e-Board members, but usually only about 10% to 15% of tickets usually do, said Meredith. Conversely, a minimum of two e-Board members are required to attend each event in case of an emergency.
In the end, the Entertainment Committee exists to provide undergraduates with the experiences they want, said Sara, expressing that the EC tries to be as transparent and responsive to students as possible. “We are an open book! Come to our [general body meetings] on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. in Peirce 116 and we’ll answer any additional questions you may have.”
“And be sure to follow us on Instagram (@stevens_ec) to keep up to date on any future announcements and signups that may pop up in the future!”
