When it was announced at the beginning of March that rapper 50 Cent had pulled out of the annual Penn Relays concert, it was assumed that the Social Planning and Events Committee would find a replacement.
After all, since 1995, the concert has proven to be a highlight of Relays weekend -- featuring such popular artists as Method Man and Common -- and a marquee event for SPEC-TRUM, the division of SPEC responsible for planning the concert each spring.
But after six weeks of failure, SPEC has canceled the Relays concert and has deflected blame onto SPEC-TRUM directors. Meanwhile, 50 Cent is slotted to play a show at Temple University on Wednesday, an odd coincidence considering the rapper's apparent hesitance to play at Penn.
Even if 50 Cent's decision to pull out was out of SPEC's hands, the cancellation of the Penn Relays concert reflects horrendous planning and poor organization on the part of SPEC and SPEC-TRUM. The concert is a major event for SPEC, and its cancellation leaves a blemish on what has been a successful semester with the Busta Rhymes concert and last week's appearance by Michael Moore.
What's worse is the ignorance exhibited by SPEC's directors in claiming that SPEC-TRUM functions independently from its umbrella organization. Passing the buck on this obvious failure has left Penn students, community members and tens of thousands of visitors without a concert for the first time in almost a decade.
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