As hundreds of students gathered on campus for a concert co-sponsored by the Middlebury College Activities Board (MCAB) last Friday, questions remain about the organization’s future on campus. In the wake of legislation passed by members of the previous Student Government Association (SGA) last spring, MCAB and the new SGA administration will continue to grapple with how to best allocate concert funding and improve the organization’s oversight this year.
Four months ago, the 2023–2024 SGA passed an amended version of the bill titled “Improving MCAB’s Operations and Finance Oversight” on May 10, 2024, the contents of which were first publicly revealed by The Campus that week. The assembled senators voted 10–1 in favor of the proposal following a heated meeting that saw significant amendments and personal criticisms. These exchanges culminated in calls for four members of MCAB to resign from their positions and to face a formal student organization misconduct complaint.
Multiple MCAB members attended the SGA meeting, although they did not respond to calls for their resignation over criticism regarding their management of the organization’s mid-six figure budget. The Campus requested and was granted permission by SGA to record their final meeting of the year.
Current SGA President B Striker ’25 and Vice Presidents Talia Chang ’26 and Daniza Tazabekova ’26 declined an interview request for this article, citing time constraints and consultations with their advisor. They stated their intention to release a joint SGA–MCAB statement on the matter in the coming weeks. MCAB also declined to comment, citing the intention to publicize the same joint statement.
The amended concert committee
One point of contention resolved prior to the meeting was the bill’s proposed effects on WRMC, the college’s student-run radio station that co-hosts the fall concert with MCAB each year. The earlier draft had proposed reallocating WRMC’s fall concert funding to a new student-run concert committee, which would have also taken control of MCAB’s $180,000 concert budgets.
“We realized that WRMC has a lot of unique aspects to their concerts and they do a lot of different stuff,” said Abed Abbas ’24, then-SGA president. “We feel like putting WRMC into this transition might be rushed and might be a lot, so we don't want to force it until all the considerations are made.”
Around $50,000 each year from WRMC’s budget would have been placed into the new committee, according to Abbas and the earlier version of the SGA bill. The final version of the bill did not create a concert committee and did not affect WRMC’s funding allocation; it only recommended exploring changes to the funding structures this year.
The earlier draft of the bill was heavily amended during the SGA meeting on May 10 after facing harsh criticism from representatives of the SGA Finance Committee (SGAFC) and Student Activities Office (SAO). They felt the necessary stakeholders had not been adequately consulted for such an ambitious proposal.
“This bill does not have the support of the finance committee, which I think is an important stakeholder in this whole process,” said Cole Siefer ’25, co-director of the SGAFC, referring to the clauses establishing the concert committee. “I think it permanently changes the structure of concert funding and operations on campus because of the disappointment with current MCAB leadership, which seems like a disproportionate response to these concerns.”
One issue was the timing of the bill: As that year’s final General Assembly, it was the last opportunity for the assembled senators and executive team to vote on reforming MCAB before the newly-elected representatives took over. This prompted questions from some who believed such a rush was unnecessary in light of promises from various stakeholders to continue working through the issues.
“I would urge you all to consider this rather than implementing a bill that mandates this committee, implementing a bill that recommends that this be explored,” said Valerie Nettleton, advisor to SGA and director of Student Involvement & Leadership Development. “I don’t think there is harm in waiting for a year.”
A statement written by David Wilder, SAO director of programming and events and the advisor for MCAB, was read aloud at the meeting. In the statement, he described his opposition to creating a concert committee via legislation.
“I am in support of a transition to a concert committee model in the future as a concept. However, it has come to light that some of my colleagues and several other key stakeholders who are essential partners in executing a successful transition feel the current draft of the bill is too ambitious and unrealistic to implement,” he wrote.
The amended version of the bill ultimately recommended the exploration of new funding procedures for various allocations currently made to MCAB. Representatives of SGAFC expressed satisfaction with the improvements made in the final bill.
“A hot button issue”
Central to the conflict last May was the purchase of luxury winter coats for MCAB board members, a decision approved by the organization’s advisor, yet sharply criticized by the assembled senators.
“Regarding the jackets, which I know is a hot button issue,” Nettleton began. “The plan that was communicated to the advisor at the time of approval was that those jackets were going to be embroidered and were going to be MCAB jackets, and that played into part of the approval process.”
The jackets did not receive any additions to mark them as related to Middlebury College or MCAB specifically; the total expenditure for the coats was approximately $2,600, according to The Campus’ prior reporting.
“The majority of the funds to pay for those jackets were taken either out of their gift account or departmental money. A portion of it was taken out of the operation,” Nettleton clarified, citing an exception in the student handbook for MCAB that allows such expenditures but was intended for other purposes.
Some senators took issue with the idea of any executive merchandise costing several hundred dollars per item.
“I just find it kind of ridiculous that each of those jackets is over $250, and that it's okay to just add an embroidery if that was the original vision,” said Catherine Kish ’24, then-senior senator and general assembly speaker.
Several other SGA senators voiced similar complaints specifically about the jackets to The Campus last May; MCAB and the SAO have largely stood by the approved expenditure.
Calls for MCAB resignations
After the bill was passed, conversation turned to the room’s collective anger towards specific members of MCAB as debate grew more intense and criticism more personal.
“They disrespect the students they serve,” said Shane Silverman ’24.5, then-Feb Senator, in reference to the 2023–24 MCAB leadership which made many of the controversial spending decisions last year. “I'm asking my fellow senators to consider asking four representatives on MCAB to resign by Saturday night. And if they don't do that, then I propose that we file a public official conduct complaint detailing our findings.”
Representatives of SAO identified the official student organization misconduct process as the venue where such a complaint would go. From there, the director of Student Involvement & Leadership Development is empowered to decide if an investigation should proceed, according to the Student Organization Handbook.
Members of the SAO immediately took issue with the call for resignations and formal misconduct complaints, detailing the complex process for such an inquiry and the uncertain nature of a potential resolution. Instead, they urged reflection on the tone of discourse in the room and empathy for fellow students.
“I want to remind you that you are members of an institution that values restorative practices and educational sections and utilizing errors in judgment as learning opportunities to grow and develop,” Nettleton said. She also cautioned SGA against developing a list of specific people that are responsible for the misconduct without formal investigation.
Anthony Makhovik ’26.5, then-Feb senator, stated that he believed his constituents were understandably angry about what he saw as a misappropriation of student funding and abuse of power by MCAB leaders.
“People pay tuition, people pay the student activity fee, and a part of this went to personal gain,” Makhovik said.
The accusations of theft towards MCAB members proved controversial in the room and prompted an extended exchange on a need for respect and professionalism in the debate.
The assembled body voted to ask for these members’ resignations in private discussions and unanimously voted to begin the process of submitting a formal student misconduct complaint.
It is unclear if any of the four MCAB members resigned following the SGA call for action; at least one returning member is listed as the organization’s president for this year on a publicly available web page.
With an MCAB double-header last weekend — the LAUNDRY DAY and Vundabar concert and Dunmore Day took place back-to-back on Friday and Saturday — the organization remains essential to the college’s activities this fall. However, questions remain surrounding how the current SGA administration will seek to implement the reforms passed by its predecessors and what tone they will strike in the discourse surrounding MCAB’s role on campus this year.
“An interesting paradox indeed, that we witnessed such personally harmful and destructive approaches to prove points and try to make positive changes,” Wilder wrote, in reference to the debate surrounding MCAB last year. “I am hopeful we can all work together next year productively to repair relationships and restore collective faith in both our great organizations.”
Editor’s note: Former Editor in Chief Maggie Reynolds ’24 and Managing Editor Katie Futterman ’24 contributed reporting to this article. Shane Silverman ’24.5 is an Opinion Editor for The Campus; he had no involvement in editing this story.
Ryan McElroy '25 (he/him) is a managing editor for The Middlebury Campus.
He previously served as a news editor and staff writer.
Ryan is majoring in History with a possible minor in psychology or English. He also takes part in Middlebury Mock Trial and Matriculate.org on campus. He spent this past summer working as a research assistant in the History department studying Middle Eastern immigration to New England.
