Arts | 4/17/08

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It's official: The Roots will be playing Tigerfest.

After an arduous process that began prior to Winter Break, the hip-hop group will play the annual spring festival on Burdick Field on April 26. The confirmation comes after Fire in the Hole, The Calling and Immortal Technique were officially announced two weeks ago.

Associate vice president for campus life Teri Hall signed the contract between the University and the William Morris Agency, which represents The Roots, on Wednesday morning.

According to Hall, the hindrance of the process came from the legal counsel of the William Morris Agency.

"[The Campus Activities Board] did what they were supposed to do," she said. "They sent the contract in a timely fashion months ago . . . to get this process started and it sat with William Morris and then it came back with these changes they wanted us to make to our standard contract that we've had on campus for probably eight years now."

Hall worked alongside university counsel Michael Anselmi, director of student activities Patrick Daniel, and office of student activities coordinator for programming Bridget Chase in negotiating the final clauses of the contract to get it signed.

"They had objections that we as institutional agents didn't feel comfortable agreeing to…without university counsel being involved in some of that decision making," Hall said. "He then helped us figure out the things we could negotiate with them."

According to Chase, final negotiations focused on certain legal language, including a debate about the weather and whether the band were to be paid if the event was cancelled due to an act of God. Originally, the University declined to agree to the clause.

"We thought at this point in the contract negotiation … if they made the effort to be here …why wouldn't we pay them," Chase said. "I think that was the last contention that anyone had about the whole thing."

Chase said that the process was unique.

"[The contract] must have gone back and forth five times, which I've never seen in my entire life," she said.

Hall speculated that future dealings with the William Morris Agency might be in jeopardy because of the tedious process undertaken in signing The Roots.

Continued...

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