Stabens to host students for Halloween open house
To most University of Idaho students, the President’s House perched on the top of the hill on Nez Perce Drive is a mystery. But, UI President Chuck Staben said he wants to change that and is inviting the university student body to celebrate Halloween with him and his wife at an open house Halloween celebration from 6-8 p.m. Friday.
“Halloween is a fun holiday,” Staben said. “A lot of students enjoy it and my wife Mary Beth and I have always enjoyed it. The university is our community and we would like to invite our community to come enjoy the holiday with us.”
Among the festivities will be a drawing for a $100 Vandal Store gift certificate, President’s Suite seating for the Nov. 15 Vandal football game and a dinner for eight with the Stabens.
Staben said guests are welcome to wear costumes and enjoy the candy and food with other Vandals in the community in a safe environment. Staben said, jokingly, students may be disappointed by how plainly decorated the president’s house is. He and his wife are not currently living in it due to plans to replace the house. However, he said the Halloween decorations and food would certainly make up for it. The living room area will be where guests can eat candy, cookies, cider and other treats provided by the Stabens.
“The place will be decorated a bit and my wife and I will be there to welcome students and say ‘Happy Halloween,'” Staben said.
Staben said he’s been asked by many what he and his wife will dress up as for Halloween, but has yet to reveal that information to anyone.
“You will just have to show up to find out. I’m not letting that one out of the bag,” Mary Beth Staben said. “It’s a surprise, but it will be a good one. It’s not Halloween without costumes.”
Tradition and community were major influences in the Stabens’ decision to host students at a Halloween gathering. He hopes to make the event a tradition and to host students for various other events and holidays in the years to come.
“When I was a child I loved to put on a costume and go trick-or-treat,” he said. “My wife and I loved going with our children on Halloween as well as welcoming trick-or-treaters. It just seems like a natural extension that the university is our home and our community — the students are part of our community, so let’s host them.”
Staben, experiencing his first fall season in Moscow, said he’s excited to see some of the Halloween traditions at UI. He encourages students to participate in campus events such as the Vandal Women’s Basketball game on Halloween night, various campus haunted house fundraisers and the Lionel Hampton School of Music’s Tubaween.
Staben said his personal hope is that some of the tuba players can take a break from their event to run up and play a few songs at the open house.
Among the decorations at the president’s house will be props and creations by Rayce Bird, a UI alumnus who won the SyFy Channel’s “FaceOff” competition. The Stabens, along with UI spokesman Brian Keenan, said they’re enthusiastic about including samples of UI student success in the event.
“It will be a lot of fun for students to come look at items made by a man who went to UI and now works part-time in Hollywood,” Keenan said.
Staben encourages students to show up in costume or informal attire.
“I really love costumes and the creativity that goes into them,” he said. “Students can come over however they like … as long as it’s decent.”
Shannon Kelly can be reached at [email protected]