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Boiler Bhangra 2016 Cancelled?
- Thread starter Amundeep
- Start date
Armaan Kapoor
Member
- Messages
- 77
Really surprised the Boiler committee hasn't released an official statement as to what exactly happened
sajan250
Member
- Messages
- 58
It has been two weeks since Boiler Bhangra was cancelled, so this post comes a little late. We waited to give the Boiler Bhangra committee adequate time to come up with reparations for the teams. Since we have seen no results, here is our reflection:
We are deeply disappointed by the last minute cancelation of the competition. The manner in which it has been handled – the lack of transparency and the utter lack of respect and consideration to the time, effort, and expenses we have incurred is appalling and unacceptable. The teams have spent countless hours practicing and preparing for this competition. We had turned down other competitions in favor of this and it was to be the last competition for our seniors.
In retrospect, it is clear that, from the beginning, Boiler Bhangra has been beset with communication issues. Lack of communication from the committee for long periods of time; the forms and packets being sent at the very last minute; No advance information provided on the judges and the rubric; the event being cancelled just two days prior; and the Committee being vague and misleading about the reasons for the cancellation.
When contacted, the committee came up with inconsistent and implausible explanations:
· “Staffing shortages on the venue side” - BTF
· “Contract issues with Purdue for booking another venue” - BTF
· “Boiler Bhangra has been cancelled due to venue infractions” - Committee Member
· “Due to a malfunction with our venue as well as other technical difficulties” - Purdue SASA Page
· “Due to a malfunction with our venue as well as other technical difficulties” - Boiler Bhangra Competition Page
· “Technical malfunction with the venue” - Mohammad Ali (President)
We then contacted Purdue’s Dean of Student Activities and Organizations (SAO) and learned that the Boiler Committee failed to meet the 3/13 deadline for submission of forms, which is contrary to the Committee’s position that technical difficulties at the venue, beyond their control, led to the cancellation. When we brought this up with the Boiler Bhangra committee, they were vague and avoided the topic. Over a week later, they posted the truth about the reason behind the cancellation.
This last minute cancellation, conducted in such an unprofessional manner is, to say the least, unbecoming of an institution like Purdue University’s traditions. This has subjected us serious financial losses not to mention mental agony of disappointment. We demand that the Committee compensate us for the following expenses, failing which we plan on coordinating legal and other actions in conjunction with our fellow competing teams.
· Flights/Gas/Travel expenses incurred by team members
· Team registration fee
· Individual team member registration fees
We are deeply disappointed by the last minute cancelation of the competition. The manner in which it has been handled – the lack of transparency and the utter lack of respect and consideration to the time, effort, and expenses we have incurred is appalling and unacceptable. The teams have spent countless hours practicing and preparing for this competition. We had turned down other competitions in favor of this and it was to be the last competition for our seniors.
In retrospect, it is clear that, from the beginning, Boiler Bhangra has been beset with communication issues. Lack of communication from the committee for long periods of time; the forms and packets being sent at the very last minute; No advance information provided on the judges and the rubric; the event being cancelled just two days prior; and the Committee being vague and misleading about the reasons for the cancellation.
When contacted, the committee came up with inconsistent and implausible explanations:
· “Staffing shortages on the venue side” - BTF
· “Contract issues with Purdue for booking another venue” - BTF
· “Boiler Bhangra has been cancelled due to venue infractions” - Committee Member
· “Due to a malfunction with our venue as well as other technical difficulties” - Purdue SASA Page
· “Due to a malfunction with our venue as well as other technical difficulties” - Boiler Bhangra Competition Page
· “Technical malfunction with the venue” - Mohammad Ali (President)
We then contacted Purdue’s Dean of Student Activities and Organizations (SAO) and learned that the Boiler Committee failed to meet the 3/13 deadline for submission of forms, which is contrary to the Committee’s position that technical difficulties at the venue, beyond their control, led to the cancellation. When we brought this up with the Boiler Bhangra committee, they were vague and avoided the topic. Over a week later, they posted the truth about the reason behind the cancellation.
This last minute cancellation, conducted in such an unprofessional manner is, to say the least, unbecoming of an institution like Purdue University’s traditions. This has subjected us serious financial losses not to mention mental agony of disappointment. We demand that the Committee compensate us for the following expenses, failing which we plan on coordinating legal and other actions in conjunction with our fellow competing teams.
· Flights/Gas/Travel expenses incurred by team members
· Team registration fee
· Individual team member registration fees
Along with Texas Bhangra, we were waiting to give the Boiler Bhangra committee enough time to post an explanation/apology. However, since it has been about two weeks since they cancelled the competition and haven't heard anything yet, we decided to post our point of view:
There were definitely communication problems from the start between the committee and our team. We were only given information if we specifically asked for it. Leading up to the competition, there was no publicity from their Facebook page except for introducing their committee. It didn't seem as if they made any push for ticket sales or anything to hype up the weekend.
A few days after they canceled the competition, I got a call from the committee saying that they found a new venue and are attempting to reschedule the competition for the weekend of 4/9 (same weekend of Bollywood America and Blowout). A few of our dancers were unavailable for that weekend, so we unfortunately could not go. We were told that they would pay everyone their registration fees back after the rescheduled competition. I didn't hear anything about the rescheduled competition for the entire week until I messaged them on 4/9 asking them what the situation was. Only then did I find out that they gave up on the idea of rescheduling and canceled that too. Later that day, a committee member contacted me asking if our team was free to compete on 4/30 because they were attempting to reschedule the competition again. I did not even ask my team if they were free for that weekend because I refused to keep getting their hopes up and then letting them down. We were so excited for Boiler because it was the last competition for some of our seniors, but were devastated when they found out the comp was canceled. They got their hopes up again when we got word that they were trying to reschedule the competition and were let down again when we realized that we would not be able to attend. I was not going to get their hopes up again because I knew there was no way the competition was actually going to be rescheduled for 4/30. There was clearly a drop in morale on our team from this and most of that could have been avoided with some transparency from the Boiler committee.
As for the reimbursements, we were originally told that teams would get paid their registration fees back after the rescheduled competition. We then got an email a few days ago saying that they can't guarantee a full reimbursement. I decided to call the president to talk to him about this and learned that their new plan is to organize fundraisers in order to pay teams back. I can only assume that with the semester coming to an end, this won't actually happen. Can any other teams comment on what they were told (if anything) regarding reimbursements? From my understanding, there were a few teams that were flying in and therefore had to cancel their flights. I hope the Boiler Bhangra committee is considering covering those costs too because I don't see why anyone should be paying out of pocket for that.
In my opinion, a lot of the issues over the past two weeks could have been easily mitigated had the committee openly explained what actually happened. From what it seems like, every team was given a different reason as to why they had to cancel the competition. Even though we were extremely disappointed with the situation, had the committee posted on here to explain what happened, we most likely would have understood that they either made a mistake or it was out of their control and it would've been over at that. Instead, they failed to properly explain what actually happened despite explicitly telling me twice that they would make a btf post.
I do appreciate the committee's efforts in trying to reschedule the competition and understand how hard it must be logistically to deal with 8 or more teams. They did, however, tell us that we have an automatic acceptance into next year's Boiler Bhangra Competition. In the end, we were extremely disappointing in how everything was handled/ is being handled. Every team put in hours of practice, adjusted their schedules, and worked around financial difficulties, and for the committee to not even properly explain what happened is a shame. It's okay to make mistakes, but they can only be forgiven if there is some level of transparency between the competition and teams. I hope that they learn from everything that went wrong and make sure that next year's competition runs smoothly.
There were definitely communication problems from the start between the committee and our team. We were only given information if we specifically asked for it. Leading up to the competition, there was no publicity from their Facebook page except for introducing their committee. It didn't seem as if they made any push for ticket sales or anything to hype up the weekend.
A few days after they canceled the competition, I got a call from the committee saying that they found a new venue and are attempting to reschedule the competition for the weekend of 4/9 (same weekend of Bollywood America and Blowout). A few of our dancers were unavailable for that weekend, so we unfortunately could not go. We were told that they would pay everyone their registration fees back after the rescheduled competition. I didn't hear anything about the rescheduled competition for the entire week until I messaged them on 4/9 asking them what the situation was. Only then did I find out that they gave up on the idea of rescheduling and canceled that too. Later that day, a committee member contacted me asking if our team was free to compete on 4/30 because they were attempting to reschedule the competition again. I did not even ask my team if they were free for that weekend because I refused to keep getting their hopes up and then letting them down. We were so excited for Boiler because it was the last competition for some of our seniors, but were devastated when they found out the comp was canceled. They got their hopes up again when we got word that they were trying to reschedule the competition and were let down again when we realized that we would not be able to attend. I was not going to get their hopes up again because I knew there was no way the competition was actually going to be rescheduled for 4/30. There was clearly a drop in morale on our team from this and most of that could have been avoided with some transparency from the Boiler committee.
As for the reimbursements, we were originally told that teams would get paid their registration fees back after the rescheduled competition. We then got an email a few days ago saying that they can't guarantee a full reimbursement. I decided to call the president to talk to him about this and learned that their new plan is to organize fundraisers in order to pay teams back. I can only assume that with the semester coming to an end, this won't actually happen. Can any other teams comment on what they were told (if anything) regarding reimbursements? From my understanding, there were a few teams that were flying in and therefore had to cancel their flights. I hope the Boiler Bhangra committee is considering covering those costs too because I don't see why anyone should be paying out of pocket for that.
In my opinion, a lot of the issues over the past two weeks could have been easily mitigated had the committee openly explained what actually happened. From what it seems like, every team was given a different reason as to why they had to cancel the competition. Even though we were extremely disappointed with the situation, had the committee posted on here to explain what happened, we most likely would have understood that they either made a mistake or it was out of their control and it would've been over at that. Instead, they failed to properly explain what actually happened despite explicitly telling me twice that they would make a btf post.
I do appreciate the committee's efforts in trying to reschedule the competition and understand how hard it must be logistically to deal with 8 or more teams. They did, however, tell us that we have an automatic acceptance into next year's Boiler Bhangra Competition. In the end, we were extremely disappointing in how everything was handled/ is being handled. Every team put in hours of practice, adjusted their schedules, and worked around financial difficulties, and for the committee to not even properly explain what happened is a shame. It's okay to make mistakes, but they can only be forgiven if there is some level of transparency between the competition and teams. I hope that they learn from everything that went wrong and make sure that next year's competition runs smoothly.
sajan250
Member
- Messages
- 58
nsatpute said:
We had been told about a reschedule as well, but it was very unrealistic for all of us to spend another 350+ on tickets to fly up the week after (especially when they wouldn't even tell us if the comp was happening till mid week)
nsatpute said:
As far as reimbursements, they told us we would be receiving our registration fees. So far, we've only gotten back our after party tickets. As far as flight tickets, we had spent over 3k on tickets. The committee told us that WE should have called the airline to get a refund (which we obviously did as soon as we found out the competition was canceled - given it was about 12 hours before our flight, they could not refund us). They said that they would try to compensate us for the flight tickets, but we have not been able to get a hold of their President (what a coincidence).
nsatpute said:
After speaking with the school, it seems like the committee knew they had an issue weeks before the competition. If they had met their deadlines with the venue and school, there would not have been any issues. They should have notified the teams as soon as they knew they slipped up.
Howie Magz
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 454
Can't be worse than the Anil Prasad situation and Bhangra Blizzard back in 2010
Here's a history lesson for y'all
http://bhangrateamsforum.com/discuss/main-bhangra-discussion/bhangra-blizzard-2010-team-announcements-finalized-lineup-122409/260/
Here's a history lesson for y'all
http://bhangrateamsforum.com/discuss/main-bhangra-discussion/bhangra-blizzard-2010-team-announcements-finalized-lineup-122409/260/
rbansal4494
Member
- Messages
- 80
Howie Magz said:
LMAO best thread on BTF
Armaan Kapoor
Member
- Messages
- 77
Howie Magz said:
LOLLLLL thank you bringing this back. Best 30 minutes of my day today, this is legendary
