Photo: Derek Tam
What does Homecoming mean to a school that doesn’t have much school spirit to begin with?
To some, it is the only chance to return to Evanston during the year. To others, it is the only chance to see NU’s football team in person, as opposed to on television 2,000 miles away. To others, it’s a chance to organize a parade, raise money for a good cause, or reunite with others.
But to most students on Northwestern’s campus, Homecoming means…absolutely nothing.
I would imagine that most students, though not all, at least know that this week is Homecoming week at NU. It’s kind of hard not to realize it, though the football game at the end of the week has little to do with it.
At other schools, Homecoming is a huge deal. A friend at Indiana last year told me about the daily events his fraternity had planned to celebrate the week, culminating in the football game Saturday (which coincidentally was vs. NU last year. A depressing loss). Let’s just say, they were impressive.
In Evanston, Homecoming means a poorly attended parade followed by an even more poorly attended football game. A lot of that has to do with the overall apathy that Northwestern’s students and fans already possess. The fact that we come close to filling the stadium on Homecoming is downright embarrassing.
Students at Northwestern care more about their floats than a lofted pass touchdown pass from Mike Kafka to Zeke Markshausen.
They know who Pat Fitzgerald is, but have no idea that he will be leading a Pep Rally the night before the game. They probably don’t even know there is a Pep Rally Friday.
What can we do to change any of this? I think more of the Homecoming festivities during the week need to be incorporated into the game, so that students have an extra incentive to show up at 11 am on Saturday morning. The Homecoming court is already announced during the game, but let’s also have the floats parade around the stadium in the morning. Let’s have student performance groups competing at halftime or in between quarters.
We already know the on-field product, unless it is of an elite caliber, is not enough to draw students to pack the Ryan Field student section. We need something more.
Homecoming is the chance to do that if we find ways outside the box to draw students inside the stadium.
Apathy Rating: 4.5: Higher this week only because Homecoming week ensures that more than half of Northwestern’s students know there is a home football game on Saturday.
