To the Editor:
After reading the op-ed article, “The Unofficial Announcement,” by Veronica Florentino, I felt obligated to respond to what I believe was a series of unwarranted and unfair accusations. Before I begin, let me make it very clear that this is not necessarily a FUSA related issue, but rather a personal one. Each year the FUSA Director of Concerts is in charge of making difficult decisions about which artist will be performing and how to get a diverse student body population excited about the coming concert. As Vice Chair of the Student Senate and a proud FUSA member, I speak for all of FUSA when I say I have immense faith and confidence in Melissa Mann, the Director of FUSA Concerts for 2009-10.
Now, on a personal note, I would also like to say that the “unofficial announcement” that Ms. Florentino refers to on my Facebook page is not an announcement at all. It constitutes an expression of my own personal excitement in response to the official announcement made the day before by FUSA, via their Facebook Fan Page. Thus, she would be correct in saying that my Facebook status “did not seem like an announcement to [her] at all.”
While I thank Ms. Florentino for pointing out that I have 1,339 Facebook friends, my Facebook page is not the FUSA webpage and thus should not be depended on for FUSA updates. If as much effort was placed into the initial research for the article as was placed into researching my Facebook page, Ms. Florentino would have found that there was a plan executed by the FUSA Marketing Committee to generate interest in the FUSA Facebook page. She would have also discovered that the information about the third act of the concert was in the process of being distributed to the students through a FUSA newsletter and in the “Tinkle Times.”
Though Ms. Florentino’s questions about the announcement of the FUSA concert are reasonable, they should be proposed to FUSA as an organization and not to a single person. FUSA is proud of their relationship with The Mirror and wants to continue to utilize that relationship to inform the student body. I can assure you that FUSA is very excited for the upcoming concert and I want to remind everyone that tickets can be purchased on Feb. 1 at 11 a.m. If there are any more questions concerning this year’s concert, please direct them to Melissa Mann. Thank you and I look forward to seeing you all at the concert.
Respectfully,
Spencer Thibodeau
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