Newly elected SPEC president discusses overcoming challenges, future goals

Last week, the Social Planning and Events Committee hosted internal elections to determine their next executive board. College junior Julie Palomba was elected as the next SPEC president, replacing the spot held by College senior Josh Oppenheimer. She will officially take over as president in the next week.

The Daily Pennsylvanian sat down with Palomba to discuss how SPEC has overcome its challenges in the past year and how the most visible branch of student government plans to improve in the future.

The Daily Pennsylvanian: What will you do to differentiate SPEC this year from years past?

Julie Palomba: I think we’ve had a lot more coverage on our [less] visible committees’ events towards the end of the semester, like Jazz & Grooves in the Quad during Fling or Special Events, who hosted a really well attended event recently. We had a larger advertising campaign called March Madness that unified all the committees under one theme and showcased a lot of the other committees. I think just playing off our brand name as SPEC, we can provide exposure to a lot of committees that don’t attract as much attention.

DP: How have the recent protests against the Spring Fling concert impacted SPEC’s decision making for the next year?

JP: Since I’ve just taken over the position, I haven’t been that involved in the discussions. But we have continued meetings with the protesters. I think the issues they bring up are larger than just misogyny in lyrics, that they really point to the question of what do students want and how that stands with what Penn’s values are. So we’re definitely going to be having questions on the [SPEC mid-year] survey that gauge what people have to say in terms of values, which is something we’ve had in years past. This is definitely something that’s an ongoing discussion that’ll continue into next year. And it’s not just something we should consider, but something that any student group that puts on events should think about.

DP: How have the student government’s recent financial and budget difficulties impacted your budget for next year?

JP: We’re definitely not seeing any budget increases. There are going to be some internal reallocations within our budget just because of everyone’s budget cuts. But we’re making do with what we have, and this shouldn’t affect programming. We’re always looking for ways to cut costs and improve efficiency, so this may even be a good challenge.

DP: One of the success stories is Jazz & Grooves, which has been allocated more money for the next budget cycle because of its popularity. What do you think about the committee’s rise?

JP: It’s really that they’re just so in tune with what the rising trends are in music. They’re also attracting a slice of Penn that maybe hasn’t been attracted by SPEC events before. One thing to note about Jazz & Grooves, Concerts and SPEC-TRUM (To Represent Undergraduate Minorities) is that their events often bring artists that get really big later. Like SPEC-TRUM brought Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar before they were big, and people wanted Kendrick Lamar for the Fling concert this year. So people should be on the lookout for what these committees are doing. The directors know what they’re doing.

DP: What are some of the major duties you’ll fill as president?

JP: For me, it’s more just listening to what committee directors want to do and what students say in the survey. I make sure that people are on track with what they want to do and that their programming will get a great response. One thing I want to emphasize is that we are a very open organization, and we will listen to what students want.

DP: Final thoughts?

JP: In terms of my goals, I want to make sure that people see us as more than the Fling concert. I want to unite all our events under the SPEC brand so that when people see that it’s a SPEC event, they know they’re going to have a great time.

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