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What happens at Tigerfest...
Ana Martinez Chamorro/ The Towerlight
N.E.R.D frontman Pharrell Williams jumps off the stage into the crowd at Tigerfest. The hip-rock group went on stage at 4 p.m. and played only 50 minutes of a 90 minute set.
Academic diversity Vegas-themed end-of-the-year concert
position eliminated draws crowd of 5,000 to Burdick Field
DANIEL GROSS
News Editor
Starting next semester, Academic Affairs will be without
a diversity director.
Paz Galupo, director of the Institute for Academic
Diversity and Inclusion, will be stepping down from her
administration position and going back to being a professor
in the psychology department.
According to Galupo, this is a position that has existed
in some form for more than 16 years. Her position will not
be replaced.
Galupo said she has decided to adopt again with her
partner, adding a fourth daughter to their family. She said
she wanted to be able to balance her work with her family
commitments a little more. However, she is concerned with
the future of the office she’ll be leaving.
"Although I had already decided to move back to faculty,
I was told about a month ago that my position and the
Institute for Academic Diversity and Inclusion, formerly the
Multicultural Institute, will also no longer exist come Fall,"
See DIVERSITY, page 10
DUNCAN LLOVIO
Assistant Arts Editor
AUTUMN ROSE
Assistant Arts Editor
It takes a lot to pull a Towson student
away from a Tigerfest pre-game party, but
when Tonato Ayigah heard the beginning
of N.E.R.D’s set from an apartment in
the University Village, he dropped his
beer and ran to Burdick Field.
It was 4 p.m. and the sky was still
gray with the threat of rain. The Battle
of the Bands’ winner, Breaking Reign,
and opening act Neon Indian had already
performed.
"The weird thing that threw us off is
that we’ve been going here for three years
so far and usually the main band doesn’t
play until seven,” Ayigih said.
The change in schedule wasn't the
only difference between this and last
year’s Tigerfest. The year-end concert
sold around 4,800 tickets, according to
Bridget Chase, assistant director of stu¬
dent activities.
The number of tickets sold was less
than half the number of tickets sold last
year at the concert headlined by The All-
American Rejects.
N.E.R.D, was scheduled to play from 4
p.m. to 5:30 p.m., but their set only last¬
ed 50 minutes. After the shortened set,
the audience scattered. Only a handful
of people stayed for "The Strip," a collec¬
tion of Vegas-style casino games, and the
two acts that followed, J. Roddy Walston
& The Business and These United States.
Baltimore resident Kristin Medley came
to Tigerfest by herself, but she was disap¬
pointed at the length of N.E.R.D’s set.
"I came specifically to see N.E.R.D,
they're one of my favorite bands so I
wanted to come see them," Medley said.
"They were awesome. 1 think it should
have been a little bit longer, though. As
soon as I was ready to get into it they
were like ‘thanks everybody, it’s time
to go.’"
Chase said that N.E.R.D could not
stay for the original allotted time, as
they had to travel to Philadelphia to play
another show in the evening.
"When we advanced the show, we did
the day-of plans and they ended up only
being able to play an hour, so they did
play the hour," Chase said.
Despite the short show, many attend¬
ees were happy with N.E.R.D and the
rest of the Tigerfest bill.
"Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" per¬
formers Neon Indian signed on to play
Tigerfest a month and a half ago, accord¬
ing to the band's frontman Alan Palomo,
and drew a small but dedicated crowd.
See FEST, page 18
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