According to Ben Silver, the co-chair of the JumBonnaroo Committee for Relay for Life, a large number of incidents involving alcohol last weekend prompted the Interfraternity Council (IFC) to cancel Greek social events for the upcoming weekend. He explained that he was able to work with IFC members to permit the festival to go on with alterations, including the provision that the fraternity parties not involve alcohol.
IFC President Evan Cover, a senior, declined to comment specifically on why the IFC decided to make the events dry, but said that Greek leaders determined that the Relay for Life cause could be best celebrated without alcohol.
"It takes a certain element ... out of the traditional party scene and allows us to focus on celebrating ... life and [and] the fight against cancer, and ... the achievements of our peers and musicians," he said.
Silver said he was concerned the event would have to be canceled in its entirety after he was contacted by the IFC, but explained that he worked yesterday evening to ensure it would go on. The event had already sold out of 3-day wristbands and tickets for Friday night, as of yesterday evening, according to Silver. A cancellation of the event would have disrupted the efforts of the student organizers, as well as risked the loss of ticket sale revenue, which is being donated to the American Cancer Society through Relay for Life.
As of early this morning, JumBonnaroo is scheduled to go on, albeit with an altered schedule. Thursday’s event, formerly scheduled for Zeta Psi fraternity, has been moved to ATO of Massachusetts fraternity, and Friday night’s event, scheduled for Sigma Phi Epsilon (SigEp) fraternity remains unchanged. The Saturday location was also changed to Delta Upsilon after Theta Delta Chi (123) fraternity decided not to host any performances. The music lineups have also changed, and specific information on the performers can be found in the Weekender on page four.
Despite the changes, Silver believes JumBonnaroo will be a great experience for the attendees.
"It's about the music and it's about Relay, and we want to do everything to keep pushing that forward," Silver said. "Despite these changes, we hope that people can still have fun and support the cause and the artists and everyone that has been putting a lot of hard work into [JumBonnaroo]."
