Luda! Luda! Luda!

That was the chant that filled the TD Banknorth Sports Center on the night of the Hellogoodbye and Ludacris Concert. Unfortunately, it began during Hellogoodbye’s performance.

I understand that it is standard at concerts for the audience to become impatient with the opening act because they are anxious for the headliner. And I will admit that Ludacris is easier to dance to at a concert. However, the behavior of some students during Hellogoodbye’s time on stage really embarrassed me.

Regardless of whether you like Hellogoodbye or not, they were a guest at Quinnipiac and we were lucky to have them agree to perform at our school. The group of drunken fools behind me who were loudly booing made it very difficult for anyone to hear Hellogoodbye. Call me crazy, but I believe that there were people at that concert who went with the intent of actually listening to Hellogoodbye perform. I even talked to some students who were more excited about Hellogoodbye than they were about Ludacris. Personally, both performers come up often when I am shuffling through my iPod, so I was excited for the concert in general.

Although it is obvious that Hellogoodbye and Ludacris sing opposite kinds of music, I thought it would be cool to see the two genres combined. Obviously, the boys behind me did not share my sentiment. There was this one kid who was relentless in letting Hellogoodbye know just how much he thought they sucked and how badly he wanted to see “LUDDAAAA.” I swear, you would have thought this guy had a man crush on Ludacris if you had heard how he was carrying on, whining and complaining.

But here is my little bit of advice for those who were so displeased with Hellogoodbye: next time, why don’t you just come later. You knew that Hellogoodbye was the opening act and the floor seats did not fill up that quickly in the beginning. And if your love for Luda is so strong and you want to be as close to him as possible, then shut up and deal with the hour of music you don’t prefer. It is just downright disrespectful to boo someone who is on stage trying to perform. It was obvious Hellogoodbye was aware of those unhappy with their performance when the pianist took a minute to single out a guy in an orange shirt who screamed “you suck” at them. I think the band handled it well and that whoever was in the orange shirt deserved them mocking him. Yet the fact that Hellogoodbye acknowledged him makes the situation even more mortifying.

For those who were disrespectful to Hellogoodbye, you not only made a fool out of yourselves, but you gave a bad name to QU. Now, whenever Hellogoodbye thinks of Quinnipiac, we will be the school with that kid in the orange shirt that said they sucked. The worst part is this is not the first time we have been blatantly rude to visitors.

In 2007, Former President Jimmy Carter came to Quinnipiac to speak to students and accept the Albert Schweitzer Humanitarian Award. Students in QU 101 classes were required to listen to his speech, and during his entire lecture some students were texting and many got up and left in the middle of his speech. Carter expressed his disappointment in this response to his speech and he will probably never return to Quinnipiac.

Honestly, is that how we want to be seen? Are we a school that is filled with such spoiled brats that we can’t even give respect to a former president? I know that not every student is disrespectful, and that is what makes me so angry. It only takes a select few individuals to make an entire school look bad. The one fortunate part of the Ludacris concert situation was that the obnoxious boys were outnumbered by a bunch of people telling them to shut it. I encourage us all to continue to put those who are embarrassing in his or her place, because Quinnipiac’s reputation should not be ruined by those who are disrespectful.