Crawfish Day performer replaced after administration concerns

Nicholls Student Programming Association (SPA) signed a contract with Waka Flocka Flame, a popular hip-hop artist, to perform at Crawfish Day tomorrow, but was unable to get approval from the University’s administration.

“Administration was worried about how students would feel about his lyrics,” SPA President Amber Burton said. “They were afraid that it would cause a bad environment on campus, and it would give the university a bad look. It’s just unfortunate, because that’s really what the students wanted,”

Instead, SPA booked an EDM duo, “Lost Kings” to perform from 8pm to 9pm.

Burton and SPA Vice President Taylor Boudreaux collected student opinions on what music genres they preferred for Crawfish Day this year. The results showed that students wanted hip-hop.

SPA proceeded to contact Concert Ideas, a college concert booking agency, in order to book an artist within their price range.

“Waka Flocka was at the top of our list, so we got his contract, but when something costs that much, it has to go through administration. That’s when we noticed that we were starting to have some push back from them.”

SPA gave administration a list of songs and ensured them that he would perform edited versions of his songs. However, administration still shut the idea down. Students were not happy with administration’s decision and some voiced their opinions about the rapper’s denial.

Alondra Medrano, Mass Communication senior said, “Waka Flocka would’ve increased the attendance rate and reached out to different groups of people.” She continued, “Hip-Hop is a genre that so many people listen to at Nicholls. It would be different from previous years, and diversity is always good.”

“SPA is funded by student fees. So, honestly, students should always have the power to decide who performs at a student funded event,” Family and Consumer Sciences major Brooke Banta said.

“I’m pretty disappointed that the university didn’t approve Waka Flocka, because he’s such a fun performer,” Cassidy Smith, junior in Mass Communication, said.

SPA also decided to move the event to Friday evening from 5p.m. to 8p.m. instead of during the day this year.

This year Crawfish Day will take place at John L. Guidry Stadium side parking lot.

“In the past, classes ended at noon on Fridays, but now they are all day long,” Burton said. “We moved it to night time in order to make it easier for more students and faculty to attend.”

Unlike the performance situation, students had mixed feelings about crawfish day’s time change.

“I can’t say I’m opposed to having Crawfish Day at night because I’ve never experienced it, but I think it should be a daytime tradition. Its nice to spend a day in the sun eating crawfish and relaxing with friends before finals start,” Mass Communication junior Paige Thomas said.

Four thousand eight hundred pounds of crawfish will be boiled and served along with corn, potatoes and dipping sauce.

Hamburgers, nachos and other treats will also be offered throughout the event.

Sodexo will also be providing alcohol to students who are 21 and older. Also for the first year ever, SPA will be giving away multiple prizes each hour.
Other activities will be offered and Mr. and Mrs. Nicholls will be announced at Crawfish Day.