History of the Committee

By 1975 rock and roll was a well-established genre of entertainment, but had not yet found a venue at Purdue University. Since the committee that handles Purdue's "Victory Varieties", a very popular series in the 1960's on campus, was not really interested in dealing with rock concerts, the Music Hall Committee was formed to bring rock conerts to Elliott Hall of Music.

The Music Hall Committee was meant to include both students and faculty in the selection process for entertainment, but it proved ineffective due to frequent clashes among committee members over that entertainment to bring. Students were frequently outvoted, and the entertainment they desired was disregarded. The committee was dissolved.

In 1977, the vice-president for Student Services spearheaded the formation of the Student Concert Committee. He appointed 30 members-four staff representatives, fourteen from campus organizations including the union board, Greek houses and other organizations. The remaining twelve at-large members were chosen from call-outs where students petitioned the committee to become a member and were interviewed and selected by present members.

Don Seybold, currently Associate Director in Purdue's Department of Convocations and Lectures served as the first advisor to the Student Concert Committee. He recalls the first few years as being "utter chaos."

"There were too many members, and no one could agree on anything," he remembers. "I immediately realized that this wouldn't work."

Seybold spent the next few years writing proposals to improve the situation. Over the next five years, the staff representation decreased to a single faculty advisor, and the committee's membership was reduced to ten. The Student Concert Board was formed to perform off jobs on concert days. All members were chosen by the petition process.