Students continue Tyga discussion after Fling

Though Fling weekend is over, talk of Tyga’s controversial lyrics is not.

Last night, four students involved in We Can Do Better and one Wharton graduate gathered in the Golkin Room in Houston Hall to brainstorm the next steps towards making a difference in the Social Planning and Events Committee’s Fling artist selection process.

According to College sophomore Julia Rossi, a participant in the discussion, “the goal of [the meeting] is to make sure this discussion doesn’t die with Fling.”

“We want this to be a way for people to recognize just how big this problem is,” she said.

Rossi, who is a Daily Pennsylvanian contributing writer, added that We Can Do Better planned the meeting right before Fling and marketed it mainly via email and Facebook.

Though there were only five participants at yesterday’s discussion, those who did attend were passionate about the topic.

College senior Emily Goshey, who wrote the original op-ed in the Daily Pennsylvanian raising concern about Tyga at Spring Fling, said that the event was part of an effort to “do something [about Tyga’s] violent and hateful lyrics.”

Additionally, a Wharton graduate who is not affiliated with We Can Do Better suggested that student groups should work together to choose the Fling artist because “there need to be standards.”

While the group’s discussion of misogynistic, controversial lyrics was largely spurred by Tyga’s music specifically, College senior Janee Franklin stressed that “we don’t want to single out a group.”

The discussion then expanded from Penn’s Fling weekend to issues in the music industry as a whole, such as certain artists being pressured into writing sexist or racist lyrics. Franklin added that such questionable topics have become “part of our expectation” of certain artists and can be what makes them popular.

Consequently, participants agreed that lyrical content should be part of the criteria when SPEC chooses Fling artists.

As the meeting concluded, We Can Do Better members decided to plan one last event before the end of the semester. They hope to include in the discussion organizations such as SPEC, the Women’s Center, the Undergraduate Assembly and “even people who have openly disagreed with [We Can Do Better]” to consider future improvements, Rossi said.

This article has been updated to reflect the fact that College sophomore Julia Rossi was a participant in the event, not the host.

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