Editor’s Note: this statement was emailed to the Barometer Editor from Damoni Wright, associate vice provost of student affairs and the executive director of Student Experiences & Engagement and Stephen Jenkins, associate vice provost of student affairs and executive director of University Housing and Dining Services after inquiring about why the FlatTail Festival was cancelled. They asked for it to be published in full.

On the evening of Wednesday, May 15, the decision was made to cancel the FlatTail Festival, which includes the Residence Hall Association (RHA) Carnival and DAMJam2024.

While our desire was to immediately notify the community of this change as it would impact their weekend, the haste to provide that information came across as rushed and we want to be clear we did not make this decision lightly. We fully understand the impact this decision has had on the Oregon State University community and feel deeply for those whose celebrations were altered.

Logistically, we needed to be mindful of a handful of issues that were raised. As a university, we have a set number of resources aimed at promoting safety on our campus. We’ve made adjustments to ensure these resources are utilized in the best manner to assist in protecting students and community members.

For events of this scale, there are certain requirements to keep in mind, such as the infrastructure needed, number of participants, predetermined contracts and the timeframe to make a decision to ensure our partners have everything they need to conduct their business. After many conversations, it became clear that we did not have enough time or accessible options to move the event to another location or postpone to a different date, though we made multiple attempts.

We also want to reiterate that we recognize and appreciate the incredible effort that went into planning this event. Our gratitude and thanks go to the OSU Program Council (OSUPC) and Residence Hall Association (RHA) student staff for their work and tireless commitment to student engagement here at OSU. We are committed to our continued partnerships with student leaders in finding ways to bring this event back next year. We will also continue to engage with student leaders to create an event that invites broad student engagement while promoting safety for all those involved.

OSU has other events planned for the rest of the year, largely led by student groups and organizations. We can’t speak to those events as the logistical decisions lie under the discretion of each event’s specific organizers and governing bodies, but we hope for nothing but success as OSU students participate in end of the year festivities.