Photos courtesy of Sophie Mulvihill ’25 and Robbie Lynch ’24
“Music is protest, music is love, music is community”
Farrah Najjari, lead singer for The Reapers and MOBROC Executive Board Member
Around 30 Connecticut College students locked themselves into Fanning Hall on the evening of February 26, 2023. These students decided to lock-in in coordination with protests against the current President Katherine Bergeron, the underfunding of DIEI programming, and support of the demands outlined by the student alliance for institutional, structural, and social change, Student Voices for Equity.
Students gathered outside Fanning the following morning with signs, bullhorns, and several sizable speakers. From 11 am to around 2 pm, chants including “What do we want? Change! When do we want it? Now!” and songs by artists from Kendrick Lamar to Childish Gambino rang throughout campus.
David Garcia ‘25 and Eli Prybyla ‘24 were in attendance at the protest as participants. Both students are executive board members with Musicians Organized for Band Rights on Campus or MOBROC and were also present to assist with the speakers on loan from MOBROC. Amidst the cacophony of music, chant, passing car horns, and bullhorn announcements, they began discussing potential ways to use their roles within the music community on campus to provide a moment of respite and a sense of continued support for the students occupying Fanning. They both took note of the MOBROC tech already in front of the building and promptly decided to reach out to fellow Executive Board members about organizing a show in front of Fanning that night.
Additional members of the Executive Board are Farrah Najjari ‘25, Abby Dawson ‘25, and Phil Chandy ‘23. For the past two years, Chandry, Prybyla, Garcia, and alum Nico Severino ‘22 have made up a group named ‘Mung Bean’ specifically designed to perform on short notice during breaks at MOBROC shows.
Naturally, then, Garcia reached out to all five board members with the phrase ‘Mung Bean’, and the team recognized that they were experiencing a moment when a short notice performance was needed. After the protest dispersed, all five students quickly gathered to meet and discuss plans for the impromptu show.
Although the artists slated to perform started rehearsing around 1 pm that day, the hours leading up to the concert were not without feelings of hesitation. Dawson cited receiving some critique online throughout the day claiming that “it seem[ed] inappropriate to host a concert during these dire times.” Yet, Dawson’s response was “Look, we’re being intentional here like this is about fanning this is not about me wanting to put on a spectacle.”
Najjari, in particular, worked to lift the Executive Board’s spirits as they deliberated throughout the day. Upon reflecting on her resolute support for the show, she expressed “we can’t lose faith in moments like this, and we shouldn’t let any factor defeat anyone’s purpose here. We’re all one and like to find unity in times of adversities to like hold each other’s hand and walk through it, and that’s kind of what I had in my mind when trying to fight for this.”
By 6:00 PM, an amalgamation of groups belonging to MOBROC had arrived in front of Fanning. At first, a small group of students–mostly friends of the musicians–had gathered around the North-facing doors. However, as the first few notes of ‘Come Together’ by The Beatles floated across campus, a crowd began to fill the space between New London Hall and Fanning. Students swayed and shouted, using the concert as an opportunity to let out anger and move freely without abandon.
Throughout the set, Dawson and Najjari repeated the phrase, “Music is protest.” When asked to elaborate on this sentiment, Najjari expressed “Historically, like you can’t have a solid protest [without music]. You can’t have a movement without a chant. You can’t have a movement without poetry, you can’t have a movement without words. And I think everything that we perform comes back down to that, music is also poetry, and it’s also a way of using our words and sound to put out a greater message.”
The most notable performance of the night included guitarist Fernando Rufino ‘25. Rufino was one of the around 30 students who locked themselves into Fanning the night prior. MOBROC moved his bass into the building only a few minutes before the performance. So, while his fellow musicians rehearsed in the designated MOBROC performance Barn, he had spent time experimenting with the technology needed to amplify his sound from the lobby of Fanning. Rufino, who performs under the name Ferufy, could only hear a whisper of sound from his bandmates during the performance and relied on fellow occupiers to help him remain in time with the songs played.
On his experience performing, Rufino stated, “at the beginning, communication was difficult. I was talking through the very edge of the door, [using a] very little gap […] I mean, I didn’t even want to touch or open the door at all, so it was really as little as I could keep it open to get the amp cord through.”
The artists performing grounded themselves in the common goal of supporting the students occupying Fanning and bringing protesters together through angry, energetic, and powerful music. Fans certainly resonated with and understood this message. Garcia recounted, “towards the end, the crowd just started doing a chant ‘Get KB Out.’ I was part of the little last group and we were able to like jam out to that chant. And that became just another little song just in the moment.”
Between sets, fans inside the building shouted their collective thanks from upper-level windows. Occupiers also flooded MOBROC performers’ direct messages that night with continued gratitude, with one saying “thank y’all so much for playing tn, us occupiers rlly needed and appreciated it.” Another conveyed their genuine excitement at witnessing the show, “bro that show was so lit, i appreciate that sh*t so much.”
At the core of the performance was a deep desire to not only uplift the students inside Fanning, but to live up to MOBROC’s original mission. MOBROC’s full title, Musicians Organized for Band Rights on Campus, is rooted in advocacy. Prybyl explained, “that show was the first time where I really felt like mob rock lived up to its name of being politically motivated, not explicitly arguing for bans rights on campus, but for students’ rights.” Garcia, then, illustrated the idea that “even though it says band rights on campus, the students are the bands like I’m a student, Abby’s a student, Phil’s a student, Fernando is a student. We all share the same objective.”
MOBROC organized a second concert on March 1, 2023, as a part of the faculty and student protest. Performances and protests began outside of Fanning at 1:15 PM. Rufino made another appearance; however, this time, he was accompanied by fellow artist and occupier Ian Hopkins ‘25 as the two performed a piece they had written the previous night while inside Fanning. Both occupiers pressed their faces and microphones up to Fanning’s doors. While they rapped a few choice words for President Katherine Bergeron, whose resignation is the first demand outlined by the activist group Student Voices for Equity. While discussing the writing of the song, Rufino said “it’s a song that came around when we realized that there’s no way we’re gonna make music in here and not make it about the protests.”
While watching the concert, the singer for the Milk Carton Kids, cara zoe, emphasized the importance of music in activism, “punk is rebellion, in the end, it just matters that we’re making noise, […] as long as you’re screaming and people are screaming right along with you.”
Meanwhile, the only response The College Voice has received from Bergeron has been regarding the cancellation of Into the Woods this coming weekend, another music-oriented event. Bergeron urged the cast and crew to find “other meaningful ways you can support Student Voices for Equity without canceling the production…I hope you will consider them and let your work have its lights this weekend”. This quote was part of a wider letter addressed to senior Mia Lowy and the Into the Woods cast and crew which was obtained by The College Voice on February 28, 2023.
While Bergeron may be missing the musical, students remain steadfast and empowered by the music they have been thundering throughout campus this week. As the second concert came to a close on March 1, students prepared to yet again use their voices and “make noise” at a 7 PM protest in the Crozier-Williams Student Center. The sentiment across the student body that evening is best summarized by Dawson, “this is a very dire situation like we need, we’re begging, for KB to resign. We’re begging for resources so that students can like, feel happy and safe on campus. Because of this, music holds power.”
