The upcoming events for homecoming have polarized students. There are the zealots who earnestly search for team members in every event, and there are those who are too stressed by midterms to participate. Greek organizations on campus tend to hold a strong majority in the homecoming events, but students who are not affiliated with campus organizations often aren’t represented at all. By implementing effective methods to encourage non-Greek students to participate, SCPC can better foster a sense of community through homecoming events.
In addition to this year’s Greek theme, the selection of homecoming events indicates a slant towards Greek organizations. Many events are variants those that occur during Greek Week in the spring. Moreover, though registration for events occurs in the first week of October, these events are only publicized in late October or the week before homecoming. This timing puts Greek organizations, who actively recruit for homecoming events, at an advantage.
As of now, there is nothing to discourage non-Greek participation except for the current Greek dominance. However, actively encouraging non-Greek students to participate would greatly improve the social value of homecoming events.
For instance, making participation in homecoming events opt-out instead of opt-in could garner additional participation. Additionally, implementing a voting system for the homecoming theme and for the actual events would motivate students to engage in events. Including a “random team” choice would give students the option of meeting new people instead of sticking to organization teams.
If homecoming events were promoted with more non-Greek students in mind, they would become more enjoyable and lead to more overall student participation.