Every year towards the end of the spring semester, an event is held with the organisation of students from different faculties and under supervision of the student affairs committee that includes music, games and foods and also local businesses. This event known as AUB outdoors, has a theme which is decided by the organising committee which defines the mood and tone of the event. This huge event has become a sensation attracting thousands from every corner of Lebanon just to attend this 2-day festival. This year’s theme had a local touch revolving around “Lebanese Summer” with notable local artists and many local sponsors. Despite the support for local businesses, many were shocked by the high prices charged; tickets began at 24$ and ended at almost 50$. Not to mention a multitude of safety concerns ranging from a lack of attention and shortage from the safety team, especially during the overcapacity on the 2nd day, to a huge number of kids and high schoolers during this event. These factors should serve as insight for organizers to re-evaluate how the event is planned in the future.
On the first day of the event the artists included various genres such as party music, metal and rock, even R&B, and Lebanese classics. But some of these artists had profanity in their names such as “Party & Bullsh*t” and a lot of the songs played by the DJ were not child friendly. In addition, many young people that were either children or teenagers fainted and had to have medical attention due to the overcrowdedness paired with the hot and humid weather during the days which worsened during the overcapacity faced during the second day. Highschoolers were disrespectful and were causing the most trouble, especially in the front by climbing on the railing and pushing people around, causing scuffles to occur which diverted attention from keeping order to keeping this particular group in order. In the back row it was worse, they almost caused a water fight by throwing water at random people and causing a chain reaction.
Moreover, there was a shortage of security staff at the event, especially at the green oval during the height of the crowd, which caused little attention to keeping order. And wherever they were present there was carelessness. Most of the order was done by the safety team and concert team where they were trying to keep people from getting off the railing or piggy-back riding their friends. Such mistakes can be addressed by proper training and properly organising the event to prevent overcrowdedness by dividing the area into zones. Especially during when famous artists such as Saint Levant are performing, or utilising a larger area for the music facility. Many of the security staff were also being rude by cussing at people or not doing any sort of crowd control and instead were either filming Tik Toks or vibing in the crowd.
Usually the organizers go all out with the decorations every year with exquisite and theme specific decor that mesmerizes the attendees of the events and usually wear an outfit that is close to the theme. An example would be the disco style theme that the organizers chose this year which made peoples outfit range from vintage to hippie style to 70s disco style. But this year, many people had to shake their brain with what outfit to choose for due to the vague theme “Lebanese Summer”. And the decor was very basic on top of that, the decor wasn’t even suited to for example with lebanese style street names or anything that alludes to the thought of what might a Lebanese summer would look like.
Knowing that the target audience are mainly students, it would appear to be unfair to charge 24$ for the tickets. This left many discouraged from buying tickets since last year’s prices were approximately 20$ at maximum. Despite this, the event was very boycott friendly. Most of the canned beverages sold and snacks were locally produced or regionally produced. And the event had a variety of food stalls that offered inexpensive food and local favourites.
There is a lack of media attention and spotlight about the dark side of AUB outdoors. Especially the safety teams competence in maintaining order and the management of the overcrowdedness, such inattention can lead to lack of accountability and continuance of such mistakes to happen in future events. Most Lebanese media depict this event as a fun; wholesome event for students to get and meet each other. Not only that but coverage on this event has limited articles around this. There is a lack of a feedbacking system too from the organising side which can pose questions about accountability and listening to the concerns of the participants for later events which is crucial in planning future events. However, the AUB crushes page on instagram was showing some of the cracks that the event was showing.
All these factors should serve as a wake up call for the organizers of this event to address because such experiences may lead to a “PR disaster” or in other words putting people’s safety at risk.
Edited by Christy Abou Saad and Amin Kharrat