It is that time of the year again, unfortunately.
Greek Row goes all out with their Vandal pride and compete against each other to see which house will have the most Vandal spirit in the end. But there are several things wrong with this tradition, the most prominent of which for me is how geared the week is toward Greek life compared to other student living groups.
How many people who are not in a fraternity or sorority even knew this week was Homecoming Week? Probably not many. As a student who lives off campus, the only reason I knew about this week”s events is because I work for Student Media.
Claire Whitley
This is partly the fault of non-Greek students who don”t stay informed, but it”s on the University of Idaho”s back too. Individual students had every opportunity to get information about the events that were coming up for homecoming by going onto the UI website, but the university could have advertised the week a little bit better.
A practical solution to this problem is improving communication. The bulletin boards that showcase announcements for homecoming events in the residence halls just aren”t sufficient. Emails just get deleted because students get them every week. There is little to no communication with off-campus students except those emails, so there are few options for off-campus students to get information about homecoming events.
To most people, it is intimidating to go to many homecoming events because they are so full of Greeks. Fraternity and sorority houses get points based on how well they do or how many events they take part in. Many chapters require their members to participate in a certain number of activities, so most homecoming events are very well attended by the Greek community.
Any other student isn”t there for points, but instead is there for their love of the Vandals. Unfortunately, these students are often vastly outnumbered.
The main thing wrong with the system is the lack of inclusivity for all student groups. Greeks are doing a great job of showing off their Vandal pride for a week, but that is because they are given some sort of reward for those attempts. I”m sure many Greek members have true pride for the university, but it appears disingenuous when showing that pride gets their house a shout out at the end of the week.
Why should we decorate our apartments to show our Vandal spirit? No one who sees it cares and we don”t get anything for it – and that applies to Greeks as well. Fraternities and sororities don”t really get anything at the end of the week. It just doesn”t make sense that these Greek students put so much time and energy into homecoming events when all they would win is bragging rights anyway.
As someone who hasn”t participated in homecoming events beyond the Homecoming Parade and Serpentine, some might think I don”t have room to talk. But I would argue the opposite, because I know for a fact that these events don”t promote friendly competition. They don”t promote anything. In fact, they miss the entire point of Homecoming.
Homecoming celebrates what it means to be a Vandal. A Vandal is someone who believes in their education and their university, whether they”re a part of Greek life or not.
I haven”t attended many homecoming events at all in past years and I”m in the same place as any student who has participated in every event each year. Props to people who do, but I would rather not spend my days coming up with jingles or decorating my apartment in tacky metallic gold streamers. It”s just not my scene.
Claire Whitley can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @Cewhitley24