Tents and Regulations

For those who passed by Alderman Library last week, you may have noticed a large white tent in front of Peabody Hall. Inside the tent was an exhibit about Venezuelan migrants andrefugees who as a result of the economic, political and humanitarian crisis are forced to leave Venezuela in search for a new home in neighboring countries. The group in charge of the exhibit, Towards a Better Latin America (TBLA), decided to focus on the Venezuelans who travel specifically to Brazil in hopes of new opportunities. As a member of TBLA, we knew that the crisis in Venezuela is not widely known at the University, which meant we had to do something big in order to get students thinking about the topic.

Very quickly we realized our main goal was for anyone who would visit our exhibit to feel as if they were there; we had to build something vibrant and realistic. But, how did a group of students manage to get permission to build an exhibit outdoors? We must remember that the University has many regulations as to what can go on Peabody Lawn. Well, let me clarify that the group has many Economics majors (we are told we can do anything we set our minds to, so we had an advantage right there!). In reality we quickly realized many regulations are designed and operated for the larger benefit of the University. Stigler would suggest that as TBLA, we are self-interested actors, and we were willing to do anything in order get the University to support our exhibit (our interests) which could be costly. For this reason, we were willing to make investments using our own funds and resources to comply with these regulations such as covering each of our 13 pieces of plywood with special fire retardant spray for fire safety.  

It is important to note that we had regulations in terms of “what” we were going to build on Peabody Lawn, yet there were very little regulations as to “how” we were going to build the exhibit. We did not face entry restrictions such as obtaining a license to build the actual exhibit, and instead, our abilities stemmed from a combination of experience and a lot of creativity. For example, since each wall was15ft by 8ft, we had to somehow put together 4 pieces of 4ft by 8ft plywood… and after lots of research nobody truly knew the “correct way to do it”. Luckily we used heavy duty zip ties in order for the walls to firmly stick to the tent with hopes that it would actually hold. There are many rational reasons as to why we had to face all the initial regulations that would benefit the University, yet to my surprise we did not face regulations in one of the most important pieces of the project: ensuring that the walls of the exhibit would not collapse. Maybe, was a way for the University to say "we see your efforts in building the exhibit, therefore you have our trust and support of your project."