Imagine jumping up and down, as sweet sonic waves blast your ears and bodies meld and fuse together. You're absorbed in pure euphoria when hands grab you, forcefully pulling you toward a set of doors. Suddenly, you're standing outside the Levin Ballroom, confused, cold and barred from reentering the concert.This is the exact predicament several students faced during the Student Events-sponsored concert in Levin last Tuesday night, simply for moshing, an aggressive form of dance typically seen at rock concerts. This outcome is more than a problem of misunderstanding; it ties into both a fear that cripples on-campus events and a lack of open communication about laws and policies that frustrates the improvement of campus social life.

There are simple solutions that can be implemented when a concert venue does not want moshing, crowd-surfing or other forms of behavior to be allowed: Write it on the ticket, post information on the doors or even have someone directly inform the audience (in the same way a pre-concert DJ identified the location of fire exits before Broken Social Scene's set Monday night). All of these are common practices.

Perhaps such a step could not have fixed the problem, because people will still do as they please. There is a fundamental difference, however, between individuals acting out of uncertainty or ignorance about what they are or are not allowed to do, and those that act out in civil disobedience, willfully disobeying regulations they are aware of.

Still, direct communication probably would have helped alleviate problems Tuesday. Someone was dragged out of the venue for jumping up and down and not hearing the security ask her to stop; someone else was actually pulled down to the ground while crowd surfing. When such actions occur without warning or rational expectation, they very understandably incite anger and resentment. It's important to ask why these rules were not clearly posted for all to see and understand in advance.

In recent weeks, there has been a cascade of controversial and cancelled events on campus. It was thus that Student Events approached this concert with particular care, said Melanie Felman '07, SE's assistant director of concerts. The organization knew that any single mishap or incident could lead to the cancellation of similar future events. In and of themselves, such efforts are particularly admirable, as they attempted to ensure the group could continue to organize concerts. But at the same time, this fear basically led to some miscommunication. According to Felman, Student Events was actually afraid of raising security issues with hired security or administrators because they feared such questions could lead to the cancellation of the whole event.

It's definitely unfortunate that the concert rules were neither transparent nor comprehendible, because of Student Events' fear of future concert cancellations. It is the responsibility of both Student Events and Public Safety to differentiate, determine and publicize clear rules of conduct for future concerts. If we cannot expect open discourse from these organizations without fear of retribution or cancellation, then we can expect to see many more incidences of cancelled events and violations of poorly defined policies. This disconnect can become even more problematic when security is subcontracted to groups such as Knight Security; they cannot be expected to act with restraint without clearly circumscribed regulations in place.

Moshing has never been an issue on campus before. Yet, Flogging Molly and other punk bands encourage such spontaneous expressions of joy and brotherhood. Public Safety runs background checks on bands before they can come on campus, so it's clear there had been no safety risks or dangers at Flogging Molly's past college shows.

Student Events' inability to articulate stems from a desire to provide the best shows possible, and a legitimate fear that an extreme response from a weary administration will occur at the mere suggestion that additional security steps be taken. But if a show that could bring the Brandeis community closer together could be cancelled because of a mere lack of understanding, then that would be a true travesty and loss.