SAC allows $5 a cappella charge

The Student Activities Council's general body will allow a cappella groups to charge $5 admission to their shows, overruling a decision made by the SAC Finance Committee earlier this month, SAC Chairperson Brandon Fitzgerald said last night. SAC members said at their meeting yesterday that a cappella groups can charge $5 for their shows -- rather than the $2 mandated by SAC Finance -- until the SAC body meets again in December to reconsider the proposal. Fitzgerald said that, since the discussion about ticket prices was last on the agenda at the three-hour meeting, SAC representatives were not able to fully consider the issue. But he said that decisions of the SAC body overrule the recommendations previously made by the SAC Steering and Finance committees. "SAC is a democracy," said Fitzgerald, a College senior who is also a member of Inspiration. "[Members of the general SAC body] make the decisions, and they make the rules." Sean Aherne, President of Counterparts, represented a cappella groups at the meeting last night. Aherne, a College sophomore, could not be reached for comment after the meeting. But Performing Arts Council Chairperson Tamar Climan said she considers last night's vote a victory for a cappella groups. SAC officials said that performing arts groups requested that last night's meeting include a discussion of ticket prices. And after a presentation by Aherne, the body voted on a temporary solution. "A motion was made . . . to allow a cappella groups to be able to charge $5 until the whole body gets to examine the issue more closely," Fitzgerald said. SAC Finance ruled three weeks ago that a cappella groups had to charge $2, instead of the previous $5, for their performances because the groups were making too much profit from their shows. SAC officials said the groups have fewer expenses than most performing arts groups on campus since they are unaccompanied singing groups. They also said the groups used the money for unnecessary travel. Fitzgerald said that the decision was "a bit hasty" since "the general body can't get [all the information] in a 30-minute period." Climan, a College senior, said she hopes representatives from PAC and SAC can discuss a possible compromise before the next SAC meeting in December. "There are other compromises we can make without having a price freeze," she said. "It sounds like they're willing to negotiate." Climan said a cappella groups are not used to the "SAC bureaucracy." But although members of a cappella groups said they are happy with the SAC body's decision, members of the SAC executive board said they feel like their work went to waste. "It's unfortunate that the solution we worked on was not adequate," said SAC Finance Chairperson Grace Esteban. "All our hard work went down." And SAC Finance member Jeff Lichtman said he was disappointed with the body's reversal of Finance's recommendation. "People don't realize the whole issue," said Lichtman, a College senior and Undergraduate Assembly Chairperson. "There are definitely better compromises than what happened tonight." Fitzgerald said that even though his a cappella group "could survive on $2, [there are] members of my group who will probably be very happy." But he said that, "as a student, it bothers me that students are paying $5."