A hip-hop concert for social justice planned by Brandeis students and Centro Presente, a local organization for Latin American immigrants, was cancelled for reasons that remain unclear and under investigation by the Somerville police and by the city of Cambridge, Mass., said Prof. David Cunningham (SOC).The concert, initially scheduled for May 2, was first cancelled in Somerville and then rescheduled at another venue in Cambridge, where it was cancelled a second time, said Blake Hyatt '08, one of the students involved in the project.

The concert was part of a project assigned for Cunningham's "Community Structures and Youth Subcultures" class.

According to Wilbur Renderos, Centro Presente youth leadership program coordinator, Somerville school superintendent Tony Pierantozzi alerted Renderos about the city's concerns regarding the concert. Renderos and Hyatt secured an alternative venue in Cambridge prior to Somerville announcing plans to cancel the concert, said Renderos.

Mayor of Somerville Joseph Curtatone announced the cancellation of the concert in Somerville in a May 2 letter to Executive Director of Centro Presente Maria Elena Letona, citing a lack of proper permitting for the event, said Thomas Champion, the director of communications for the city of Somerville.

The concert, which was initially set to take place at the Somerville high school, was cancelled by the school system with the support of city authorities, said Champion.

Cunningham, Hyatt and Renderos said they turned in the necessary paperwork to obtain a permit for the Somerville location over a month in advance. They said that it was only the Monday before the date of the concert that they learned of any problems with the permit.

"It really does feel like [these cancellations] had more to do with the organization and its particular mission than it had to do with anyone else," said Hyatt.

Champion said Centro Presente should have sent the permit through the mayor's office rather than through the public school system. "The problem was . the way this event surfaced, that is, not through any of the channels that come directly to the mayor's office," Champion said.

"We were doing what we were instructed to do [with the permits]," Cunningham said. "We were always following directions-we inquired [as to] what permits we needed, where we get these permits, et cetera. Everything we did was in response to what people in Somerville told us to do."

Hyatt said the intent of the concert was to "give a stronger level of involvement in Centro Presente." He added that the plan was to show PowerPoint presentations prepared by members of the class between acts.

Pierantozzi said he was worried about the fact that the event was for youth aged 12 to 18. He said, "Educationally, we almost never put 12-year-olds and 18-year-olds in the same venue."

Pierantozzi also said the Somerville police expressed a security concern that the event would become "inflammatory," though the origin of that claim is unclear.

Renderos said he didn't understand the concern over security or the problematic nature of the wide age range, saying the city had allowed other events with similar age ranges to take place.

The claim about security was "very confusing, because we planned on using an auditorium, and everybody was going to be sitting down," Renderos said. He continued: "I can't see why the [age range] was an issue. Also, they've had events [at Somerville High School] in the past, and there have been young people ages 12 to 14 there."

Before the letter arrived on May 2, Centro was able to secure a gymnasium at the Area IV Youth Center, a public building in Cambridge and planned to hold the event on its original date, Cunningham said.

Malika Arty, the teen program director at the Center, said the Cambridge youth programs, the governing body of the center, agreed to allow the concert to proceed on May 2 and initially received support from Cambridge authorities.

The Thursday before the concert, Arty said Cambridge authorities changed their minds, but it is still unclear who was officially responsible for cancelling the concert.

Both the Cambridge police and the Cambridge licensing board said they did not order the cancellation of the concert.

Renderos said he originally spoke to Michelle Farnum, division head of the Cambridge youth programs, about holding the event and Farnum agreed to host the concert at Area IV.

Farnum declined to comment after several attempts to contact her.

Renderos said he believed that there was communication between Somerville police and Cambridge authorities regarding security concerns.

Champion denied that anyone from Somerville ever spoke with authorities in Cambridge.

"No one from the Somerville police at any point contacted any other police department to express concern about the event," Champion said. "Specifically, the Somerville police did not reach out to the Cambridge police."

Following the cancellations, Cunningham said Centro Presente requested two separate inquiries to the Somerville police and the city of Cambridge. Cunningham said Somerville Police Chief Anthony Holloway "told me that he knew nothing about the original event [in Somerville], one of his captains had handled it, and he was going to look into it."

Arty said Centro Presente has a meeting with the mayor in Cambridge today to discuss the reasons for canceling the concert.