Hundreds of students gather unmasked during Fetty Wap concert

On Thursday Sept. 2 hundreds of Lehigh students gathered on the front lawn to listen to artist Fetty Wap perform during Camp Lehigh, an event hosted by University Productions.

In promotional materials it was advertised by University Productions that masks were required and mask wearing would be enforced throughout the event.

In the crowd of students singing and dancing to Fetty Wap, few masks were seen; instead students were crowded together, maskless amid an outbreak of 150 active COVID-19 cases. 

University Productions works with Lehigh at the beginning of each school year to put on an event, said Madie Schulte, ‘22, president of University Productions. 

Schulte said this year University Productions worked with Lehigh’s COVID-19 Response Team to organize the Fetty Wap concert. 

“We consulted Lehigh and the CRT (COVID-19 Response Team) about the event and they allowed us to put it on and felt like it was safe to continue to put it on because it was going to be outside,” Schulte said. 

Schulte said students in University Productions were present in the front of the concert, wearing their masks and asking other students to do the same. 

She said University Productions hired the Lehigh University Police Department for security during the concert. 

“I know the reality of the situation, people were not wearing them, (masks)” Schulte said. “We tried our best to tell other students to put their masks on.”

Schulte said following the concert, University Productions has not had any communication with the university. 

The Brown and White reached out to Lori Friedman, director of media relations for the university, about the Fetty Wap concert. 

Friedman said Lehigh Student Affairs observed a significant portion of the audience complying with the mask requirement prior to the start of the concert

Friedman said the concert ended after only 40 minutes because during the concert audience members removed their masks or were previously already unmasked. 

“The Covid Response Team (CRT) will continue to field, review and make decisions on requests for outdoor programming and make recommendations to student organizations and/or offices hosting future events,” Friedman said. “We hope that all members of the Lehigh community will prioritize the health and safety of their fellow community-members by complying with protol.” 

Provost Nathan Urban spoke in a Sept. 3 faculty senate meeting about the concert. 

He said at the time the concert was planned and approved the guidance about outdoor activities was that they were low risk. He said now the guidance is being re-evaluated and that kind of event would no longer be approved. 

University Productions decline to tell The Brown and White how much the university paid to have Fetty Wap on campus.