We would first like to congratulate Campus Activities Board (CAB) on getting a “big name” act to appear on Simpson campus this fall. The student body needs events such as these to prevent the image of Simpson being a suitcase college.

This is a step in the right direction; however, we think there is still some room for improvement when it comes to the artist selection.

For instance, Luther College has had quite a few acts in the past that are more than just One Hit Wonders. Artists such as Parachute, Jason Derulo, Colbie Caillat, Fun., Ingrid Michaelson, Jon McLaughlin, Sean Kingston and many have performed there recently. Why can’t they come to Simpson too?

We know that CAB travels to the National Association for Campus Activities (NACA) to find acts and Luther does as well; however, the difference is what types of acts they seek out when visiting the convention. Luther’s Student Area Council (SAC) visits for smaller name acts. For big name artists, SAC has hired an agent.

“We (SAC) have a hired agent that we go through to help us contact groups and find out show information,” Jenna Darsee, executive board member of SAC, said. “We look for our groups in the spring to see what their upcoming tour schedules look like. If their tour is going through two towns that Decorah, in our case, is in-between, we see if they would be interested in doing a ‘college’ show on their way through.”

We aren’t saying that CAB is failing in any way, but we are saying that there is room for growth. Based on her experience with SAC, Darsee offers a bit of advice when lining up different acts.

“You have to be professional and persistent in a way to get them to come, but the hard work pays off because we’ve had some great groups,” Darsee said.