Members of the Macalester Adminstration recently announced plans to cancel the annual Scottish Country Fair in an effort to ease budget constraints.

Although the decision is not yet official, Vice President and Treasurer David Wheaton says he fully expects the Board of Trustees to approve a measure that would eliminate funding for the fair by March 2004.

If the measure passes, Macalester will host the fair for the last time on May 3, 2003, after sponsoring the event for 31 consecutive years.

Macalester Director of Public Relations Doug Stone claimed that the college's growing financial problems were the main impetus for the decision.

According to Stone, with the four-year decline in the stock market weakening Macalester's annual endowment and spurring demand for financial aid, the administration has been forced to make cutbacks on programs that "don't directly fulfill the mission of the college."

"With a $2 million budget gap, everybody's tightening their belts and something's gotta go," Stone said.

"It's like a loss in the family," he continued. "I've been involved for nine out of my ten years here and it break my heart to see it go."

According to Stone, multiple branches of the Administration, including College Development, College Advancement, and the Treasuries Office, all independently came to the same conclusion that the fair was fun but not a necessity.

Sponsors and vendors at the fair generate minimal profits. As a result, Macalester shoulders the majority of the fair's $25 – 50 thousand expense every year. Costs include judge salaries, prize money, and transportation for pipe bands, athletes, and dancers.

Maria Baker, Macalester's full-time fair organizer, will lose her job as a result of the fair's cancellation. "I'm very disappointed with the decision," Baker said. "For one, it now means that I'm out of a job, but beyond that it's taking away a very important part of the school's history."

Baker is not the only Administrator who expresses concern over the fair's cancellation. Associate Director of Admissions Lisa Bramlet said that a handful of applications every year list the Scottish Country Fair and other activities related to the college's Scottish heritage as a reason for applying.

Dean of Students Laurie Hamre says she anticipates huge disappointment over the fair's cancellation, not only among students and faculty, but from the hundreds of members of the Scottish community, many of whom travel hundreds of miles to attend every year.

Music Professor Carleton Macy, a drummer in the Mac Pipe Band and outspoken opponent of the cancellation, says he is alarmed by the dwindling value placed on Macalester traditions by the Administration.

"This college has long had conversations about the importance of tradition, but soon, we're not going to have much of anything left," Macy said. "I understand we're having some tough times financially, but I think Macalester really needs to bite the bullet on this one."

Macy also believes Macalester could continue hosting the fair, if organizers developed ways to make it more lucrative for the college and if the administration was a little more willing to shoulder the financial burden.

However, Stone said Macy's request is simply not an option. He says Baker and others have worked tirelessly to make the fair less financially draining, but that even freelance planning consultants have deemed it a "money-losing venture."

Hamre noted that there are some non-financial upsides to the fair's cancellation. "Losing the fair won't change the fact that Macalester is deeply rooted in Scottish tradition," Hamre said.

"It's not going to take away our proud heritage or our unique character as a college," she continued. "Whether you like it or not, you're still going to wake up to the sound of bagpipes coming through your window on Spring mornings."