'U' to limit group use of Rackham

By Lisa Koivu

Daily Staff Reporter

Beginning in September, any student groups wishing to perform in Rackham Auditorium will have to be registered with Rackham Student Government.

This will prevent the majority of student groups on campus from using the facilities, as only groups with a significant number of graduate students involved are recognized by RSG.

Enforcement of the policy "is not so much a radical departure from the norm as it is a move to finally bring the use of Rackham Facilities into line with the original, legally binding terms/wishes of the Rackham Deed of Trust on which Rackham was founded in 1935," RSG President Damon Fairfield said in a written statement.

The deed said that, among others, no undergraduate activities or organizations would be permitted to perform in the building.

"The Rackham building was intended to primarily serve the needs of the graduate student community, acting as a focal point for graduate student activities on campus," Fairfield said.

"Over the past several years RSG, Rackham and other graduate student organizations have all worked together toward the creation of a unified graduate community on campus, with the Rackham building at its heart, as its founders intended," he added.

RSG recently began registering groups to make sure their membership is in compliance with the policy, Fairfield said.

"We've always asked for groups to provide this information, but we've never officially asked for them to register with us," he said.

Kevin Gilmartin, director of the Office of Major Events, said the policy for student group usage of the building has continuously changed throughout the years.

"For a while, anyone using Rackham had to have a letter from the dean. Then for five to six years there was a liberalization in the policy and you no longer needed a letter attesting to the appropriateness of the event, allowing a number of organizations to use the hall," Gilmartin said.

Shanon Rice, administrative assistant for University Productions, said anyone scheduling events will now have to work harder to utilize the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre and the Power Center. "It will be really hard on them though, because the Mendelssohn Theatre and Power Center are always booked," Rice said.

LSA sophomore Kym Stewart, founder of A Cappella United, a coalition of the 14 a cappella groups on campus, said the policy will really hurt groups on campus.

"We all have concerts there. Now we're stuck. We're hoping to work more with Dean (Earl) Lewis," Stewart said. "We just have a different interpretation of the trust. There are a cappella groups with graduate students in them and many graduate students view our concerts.

"Rackham was a common venue for groups and now it's going to be hard for people to get used to new locations," she added.

Fairfield said he believes events such as Democratic political strategist James Carville's lecture Wednesday and readings sponsored by the English Department will still be permitted at Rackham.

"As far as I know, department-sponsored events, such as the undergraduate English Department, should not be affected by this," Fairfield said.

RSG passed a resolution in September supporting the changes to the Rackham Facilities Usage Policy.

"We believe these changes are not only in the best interest of the graduate student community, which we were elected to serve and represent," Fairfield said. "It will also go a long way toward addressing the concerns which graduate student organizations have expressed over the past several years about the difficulties which they have faced scheduling certain areas of Rackham, such as the Rackham Auditorium, for their events."

Earlier last year, Lewis met with University Productions officials to explain that the school is bound by law to follow the Deed of Trust.