In light of events that occurred this school year surrounding the Delta Chi fraternity, a group of FSU students has decided to take action to make sure students get the three concerts they are accustomed to.
A new organization formed by a group of Ferris students are dedicated to putting on a show to replace January Jams, an annual concert event that is put on by the Delta Chi fraternity.
“After it had been heard that January Jams was no longer taking place on campus for the 2011 school year, we realized that there was funding available to bring a new event to campus,” the group stated in a press release.
Student Government President Morgan Toms said, “Soon after the allocation [for January Jams] was approved Delta Chi was put on bad standing with the Office of Student Leadership and Activities. According to the Rules of Appropriation and Allocation, no organization that is in bad standing is eligible to receive funding from the Finance Division.”
Alex Johnson, a senior in the music industry management program, realized the full potential of being able to put together a performance. While Johnson realized this, other students were evaluating the possibility of a concert tailored to FSU students’ tastes.
Marilyn Keigly’s is a professor at Ferris that teaches a marketing research class and some of her students spent last semester researching the type of concert students would want the most. Their results: an Electronic genre concert.
The students thought Electronic would be the best choice due to increased interest across the nation and Michigan. They also researched past successful concerts at Ferris, such as Wiz Khalifa and Mike Posner, and realized these concerts drew attention because of the point they were at in their careers. The group believed these artists were on the “upswing” and they were booked before they reached their full potential.
“Why are billionaires billionaires? Because they know what people want before they know they want it,” said Alex Gohl, member of the team that did the research and a committee member of the group trying to put on the event, on the past success of these shows.
Many different registered student organizations are being represented within the nine members that this committee is composed of and the representation of groups is looked upon favorably.
“We thought collaborating among RSOs would allow for many groups to be involved in a cutting edge event on campus while also providing ample professional development opportunities,” said Johnson.
After several meetings, the group decided to present their idea to the Finance Division of Student Government to get funding. They prepared a presentation, with help largely coming from Rachel Malooney who is now a Ferris alumni interning in Nashville, for the Finance Division and had an initial meeting in December. The group then presented again in January and was approved for allocations.
When Student Government gave their official approval the group finally came up with a name for the event they’ve been working so hard to put on: Turn Up the Good. The concert will take place March 31 at wink arena. Artists for the event will be released in the upcoming weeks.
A great opportunity for students to get involved with this is by participating in the DJ contest the group has set up. The winner will DJ in between acts at the show. n