University of Virginia Library

University Union Cleared
Of Concert Failure Blame

By Tom Jenks

Yesterday, Evan J. Male,
director of University Hall,
exonerated the University Union
from a large part of the blame for
the failure of last Saturday night's
concert by saying, "I have never
had a better relationship with or
co-operation from the officers of
the University Union than during
the planning of the last few
concerts. The technical malfunction
was in no way the fault of the
Union. It was something that
apparently could not have been
prevented, but I guarantee that we
will do our best to see that it will
not happen again."

According to the contract that
the University Union signed with
The Temptations, Saturday night's
concert was to have featured an
evening of two forty-five minute
sets of soulful sounds, but, as many
of those who attended the concert
report, the actual results did not
meet the agreement. Evidence
indicates that negligence on the
part of the University Hall staff, of
several University policemen, and
somewhat on the part of the
University Union resulted in the
disruption of the concert.

Temptations Contract

The contract with The
Temptations specifically stated the
type of microphones, amplifiers
and, in general, sound system that
was to be used for the concert. In
the informal agreement made
between the University Union and
University Hall, Mr. Male agreed to
provide the necessary equipment
and promised that the sound
system would be adequate in every
way.

George Shipley, president of the
University Union, describes what
happened on Saturday as follows:
During the afternoon, Lefty Easten
began hooking up the Hall's address
system. Mr. Easten, said Mr.
Shipley, works officially for the
Department of Buildings and
Grounds and is not the Hall's
professional electrician.

Mr. Shipley continued that Mr.
Easten hooked up the Department
of Athletics' microphones instead
of the ones requested by The
Temptations; Mr. Male tested this
arrangement, found it to his
satisfaction, and confidently went
home, leaving the concert's
technical matters in the hands of
Mr. Easten.

When the concert began and it
became obvious that the audience
was having difficulty hearing the
music, Mr. Shipley and Steve
Hayes, co-chairman of the Union's
Special Activities Committee, and
the manager of The Temptations all
met with Mr. Easten. Messrs.
Shipley and Hayes reported that
Mr. Easten refused to change the
microphones, turn up the amplifier
volume, or co-operate in any way.
At one point, they said, he actually
locked the door of the control
booth and refused to talk to
anyone, while mayhem reigned
below and his young son played
with various instruments in the
booth.

Microphones Changed

Finally, they added, they
changed the microphones
themselves, turned up the
amplifiers, and requested Mr.
Easten to leave the system alone.
According to Mr. Shipley, the
difficulty in the system was later
located in a faulty power pack and
a broken treble speaker, both
belonging to University Hall.

In the mean time, Mr. Shipley
went on, a segment of the audience,
mostly Negro, had begun moving
their chairs around from the wings
of the auditorium up to the front
of the stage so that they could hear
better. The four University
policemen who had been hired by
Mr. Male for the concert took no
action, and soon people were
coming down out of the stands and
milling about in front of the stage,
obscuring the view of those people
who were actually seated in the
front rows.

Officers To Blame

According to a spokesman of
the University Union, officers
Hackney and Tyler were
particularly to blame in that they
were the ones who failed to control
the situation, but just stood and
watched. Mr. Hackney, a veteran of
two years on the force, was
observed by several to be smiling,
while Mr. Tyler, a rookie on the
force, actually did not seem to
know what to do, the spokesman
said.

Lt. L. M. Lamm, Assistant
Supervisor for the Department of
Security, when questioned about
the incident, said, "Apparently the
officers did not know what to do
because of the large number of
people involved. I will look into
this and do all I can to prevent this
in the future."

Mr. Shipley said the commotion
was finally settled when he jumped
onto the stage and calmly asked
everyone to be sated. Sgt.
Crickenbargar of the University
police and the professional ushers
hired by Mr. Male helped Mr.
Shipley, achieve his ends, he
reported.

Mr. Shipley places the failure of
the University Union in the fact
that its ushers were not adequately
briefed on their job and,
consequently, were ineffective in
seating people and keeping them
from smoking. The Union is
presently refunding the money of
all students who left the concert
before 8:30 and received their
tickets back.

All the people involved in
putting on the concert emphasized
their belief that the same mistakes
will not happen again. A sound
specialist, Hamner T. V. of
Richmond, will be called in as a
consultant on all future concerts,
the University Union said, and it is
even considering restricting all
future concerts to only University
students. Mr. Shipley said, "We are
confident that we can study the
mistakes made on this concert and
turn them to our advantage to
make future concerts better than
ever."