First, I would like to say “Thank you" to the City of Auburn and the Auburn City Council, whose partnership with Auburn University has enriched my personal college experience. I'm so thankful that they foster such a close relationship and I hope that they continue to do so.

Now, I would like to address this article. As a member of Auburn University, I am extremely upset with the complaints of the mother (named in the article), and I'm upset for a number of reasons.

Her main claim is that fliers were sent home with students at Auburn City Schools to publicize the Auburn Airwaves event. She believes, because these fliers were sent home with students, there was no reason to look into the event before a parent decided to bring his/her children. That is my first problem. While the receipt of this flier may have sent a mixed message, as an adult, you should recognize that advertisements are meant to show any product or event in their best light. It is your job, once you've encountered an advertisement, to research the product/event and see if it's actually as great as the advertisement makes it seem. I'm shocked (and frankly, appalled) that parents would accept a flier (from a college organization) and feel comfortable enough to bring their very young children, without doing the necessary research. I know that my own mother came across a similar situation, when I wanted to go to Big Spring Jam as a middle school student; however, she did the necessary research, and said “not for a couple of years."

This is a quote from an article published by the Plainsman before the event: “The public will be there, and there's an entertainment district downtown, so there will be open container laws and the roads will be blocked off. It's just going to be a really fun Toomer's Corner party." Does that sound like it's the kind of environment to take your 6 and 9 year olds?

As a result, I'm personally offended that she's demanding a public apology from Auburn's University Program Council. All they did was publicize an event. I've read the quotes in this article. The closest thing I've seen to publicizing a “family event" is when Amanda Hurite (president of UPC) was quoted as saying “It will be right after A-Day so there will be a lot of families that come down." She didn't say, “Bring your 5 year olds, because Barney will be there."

According to her Facebook page, this mom is also upset that her (college-aged) daughter, who attended the concert, witnessed lewd behavior from people in the crowd including “making out in the streets, humping in the streets, drunkenness, and trash talk that involved the F-word." Now, I didn't personally witness any of this (except maybe trash talk – it was hard to hear where I was situated), but even if all of this did take place, a HUGE proportion of COLLEGE STUDENTS were at this event. Has she ever looked around during game day? Drunkenness, PDA, and trash talk all take place there as well. Why would you think a concert with college students would be any different?

Then she does something that truly insults me (and any other Auburn University student). She brings in the Auburn Creed. For those of you who aren't Auburn fans, the Auburn Creed is almost as sacred as The Bible (almost). She challenges Auburn to compare the lyrics of the performers with the ideals set forth in the Auburn Creed. Let's take a look:

The Auburn Creed

I believe that this is a practical world and that I can count only on what I earn. Therefore, I believe in work, hard work.

I believe in education, which gives me the knowledge to work wisely and trains my mind and my hands to work skillfully.

I believe in honesty and truthfulness, without which I cannot win the respect and confidence of my fellow men.

I believe in a sound mind, in a sound body and a spirit that is not afraid, and in clean sports that develop these qualities.

I believe in obedience to law because it protects the rights of all.

I believe in the human touch, which cultivates sympathy with my fellow men and mutual helpfulness and brings happiness for all.

I believe in my Country, because it is a land of freedom and because it is my own home, and that I can best serve that country by "doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with my God."

Now, I'm not going to post all the lyrics – if you're reading this article there's a good chance you already know them.

All three musicians that performed have “earned" their fame through time at the studio (and time at the gym); considering the lyrics of their songs, I think we can agree that they're all being “honest and truthful" about their emotions. As far as we can tell, they all have “sound minds" and “sound bodies," they're certainly "unafraid," and I think we can also agree that they believe in “human touch".

Where are they lacking in the Creed? Education and obedience to law. So let's tackle that right now.

Quite a few musicians don't go to college, so limiting our performers to college graduates who are willing to give a concert to a bunch of poor college students doesn't benefit anyone. (Furthermore, the argument can be made that musicians shouldn't go to college; see that article here.)

As far as disobedience in musicians' lyrics, popular music has always had an element of rebelliousness in it; that's what makes it so popular with young people. All you have to do is look back at the 1966 hit song “I Fought the Law" (also number 175 on the 2004 Rolling Stones list of Greatest 500 Songs of All Time) to realize that the music young people enjoy listening to is most likely the music their parents don't want to listen to.

I hate that so many parents had such a bad time at the concert. I hope in the future everyone's experience is better, and certainly, UPC can learn from constructive criticism, but calling our City Council and complaining to the Mayor, all in the hopes of preventing the collaborative effort of the City of Auburn working with Auburn University, just because some parents didn't understand (and didn't like) the content? That's crazy.