The Gustavian Weekly aims to cover major events on campus. This spring, one of the biggest campus events is the upcoming Big Concert, featuring chart-topping artist Hunter Hayes.

However, The Weekly will have absolutely no access to Hayes. As of April 20, 2016, a mere 3 days before the concert, The Weekly has been informed that we can neither photograph the concert nor Hayes, and we do not have access to an interview with Hayes.

The Mankato Free Press and KEYC also experienced difficulties interviewing Hayes, so this may be the work of his agents. While it is understandable that Hayes may not want to be interviewed, it is absurd that The Weekly cannot photograph an artist performing on our campus.

We were informed that Campus Activities Board (CAB) has already hired a photographer from the Office of Marketing and Communication to take photos of the concert. We were told that if The Weekly wants any photos, we must request them from the photographer following the concert. We are also prohibited from taking photos during sound check, or during or after the show.

Every year, the Big Concert is funded through CAB, which collects payments through student activities fees to fund this and other events. The staff of The Weekly, like every student of Gustavus, pays these fees, yet we are prevented from fully reporting on the event.

The Weekly strives to provide students, faculty, staff, and all members of the Gustavus community with comprehensive coverage of events on campus such as the Big Concert. It is disappointing thatThe Weekly has been prohibited from fulfilling our mission as a student paper to cover events important to the student body.

We are disheartened that CAB has denied the Gustavus student paper access to an event funded by Gustavus students.