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Editorial: Homecoming now more inclusive

By Mark Dent

Thursday, October 23, 2008

In high school, homecoming is about class competitions, theme days and selecting a king and queen who are the top choices of the students. Everyone is involved.

At the University, not so much. There’s chalk on sidewalks, a parade on Saturday, a sense that only greeks participate in the events and nothing that engages the entire student body. The week just doesn’t feel special.

Of course, college isn’t high school. About 30,000 students attend the University. It would be nearly impossible to make everyone feel involved.

Every year, the Homecoming Steering Committee faces this task. According to vice president David Wilcox, its goal is to make the average student notice Homecoming Week.

And although that goal may not be achieved for everyone, this year, the committee has done a better job of reaching out to students and coming up with new events to involve them.

These events included the Jayhawk Renaissance Festival on Wednesday and the Homecoming BBQ, which was scheduled for Thursday. Everyone who attended the Renaissance Festival got a prize, and the BBQ was supposed to feature free live music and free food.

Any student could’ve gone. Not just greeks or members of organizations.

The Committee took a more proactive approach in getting the message out about Homecoming Week. It set up a table on Wescoe Beach two weeks ago and also sent detailed e-mails at the beginning of the school year to every student organization reminding them of Homecoming Week.

Unlike past years, these e-mails stressed that any organization could participate in some of the competitive events but not all if financial limitations wouldn’t allow. The strategy worked.

St. Lawrence Campus Center competed in events for the first time, and the All Scholarship Hall Council is more involved than in past years.

The Committee’s plan wasn’t perfect. There’s still plenty of apathy toward Homecoming, and there always will be. But more students and different groups are involved. That’s a start.

— — Mark Dent for the editorial board

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