Rice University’s Student Newspaper — Since 1916

Friday, March 29, 2024 — Houston, TX

Future X-Fest planning needs student involvement

By Thresher Editorial Board     4/11/23 11:59pm

The first annual Moody X-Fest is in the books, and by most standards it should be considered a success. But if this is to be an annual event — and we hope that it will be — a few adjustments need to be made. First, the name ‘X-Fest’ has got to go. It’s bad. But more importantly, students should be meaningfully involved in the planning process to ensure that future festivals continue to attract student engagement. 

To our knowledge, the only solicitation of broad student feedback in planning this year’s Moody Fest was a ranked-choice survey open to students, although it certainly wasn’t advertised as such. With potential artists including Bad Bunny, Robert Earl Keen and Paul Wall, it feels safe to say that none of the names on that survey were plausible Moody Fest headliners. No offense to the (roughly) four Grouplove die-hard fans on campus, but we’re pretty sure that no one was that excited about them performing. Students went because it was a free concert, and a novel one at that. But if we continue to book B-tier bands, we’re worried students will quickly lose interest. 

To be clear, we are not calling for a student takeover. No one wants to turn the Moody Fest into a Beer Bike-esque event where a pair of sophomores are stressed beyond belief trying to plan the whole thing. But including a few students on the planning committee, or conducting multiple rounds of student focus groups, would go a long way toward making sure that the festival will be well received on campus. An event designed to attract Rice students should actually appeal to their interests.



We’ve also heard rumblings that this “experience” might not be an annual concert, but rather an ever-changing product with different types of events hosted each year. We love that idea, but again, students need to be meaningfully included in the planning process. Because, and we mean this with all the love in the world, we’re pretty sure that a group of middle-aged adults aren’t super in-touch with what types of “experiences” college students will enjoy. Our humble suggestion? A campus-wide game of laser tag — or anything the students actually enjoy.

Editor’s Note: Thresher editorials are collectively written by the members of the Thresher’s editorial board. Current members include Ben Baker-Katz, Morgan Gage, Bonnie Zhao, Hajera Naveed, Nayeli Shad, Riya Misra, Michelle Gachelin, Daniel Schrager, Prayag Gordy and Brandon Chen.



More from The Rice Thresher

OPINION 3/26/24 11:00pm
Now is the time to understand religious diversity and discrimination at Rice

In the midst of a nationwide increase in religious discrimination and hostility, particularly following the events of Oct. 7 in Israel and ensuing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, there is a need to examine how Rice University students have been impacted, how they are responding and the degree to which religious tolerance, religious accommodations, and perceptions of religious discrimination at Rice have changed. 

OPINION 3/26/24 10:59pm
We need to diversify Rice’s foodscape

Rice students have lots to say about access to food while on and around campus.  Rice’s unique foodscape lives and breathes the school’s motto of unconventional wisdom by helping accommodate a diverse group of students.  But to a certain extent, it could benefit from a taste of conventional wisdom.  Implementing other universities’ foodscape features at Rice would benefit our students.


Comments

Please note All comments are eligible for publication by The Rice Thresher.