Who is WPI's homecoming really for?

Each fall, WPI celebrates Homecoming weekend. Homecoming is supposed to be an opportunity for the entire WPI community to show its "WPI spirit." But if you ask yourself the question "Who is Homecoming really for here at WPI?" you may come to the same conclusion I have; alumni.

Just one look at the schedule of events makes it overwhelmingly apparent the degree to which Homecoming is geared toward alumni. Most of the events are just for alumni, or primarily for alumni. There is an Alumni Pub Night at the Irish Times, Alumni Crew Races at Lake Quinsigamond, an Alumni Reception after the football game, and many other receptions held by a particular year or a particular club.

On midday Saturday, a Carnival on the Quad was scheduled.

You might think that this event would be geared towards students, but it isn't, unless you are really into a costume contest, face painting, and decorating pumpkins. The Carnival on the Quad is meant for the young children of the alumni who come for the day's festivities. Some might argue that the football game is geared towards students. However, many of the people at the Homecoming game are alumni, not students.

I am not trying to suggest that alumni shouldn't be at Homecoming, but that students should be. People argue that WPI students today lack school spirit. One way to build school spirit might be to gear Homecoming, just like many of the major events here at WPI, toward the students.

The Alumni Office sponsors Homecoming, so it makes sense that they would gear many events toward alumni. Also invited to participate in scheduling of events were two students, one from SAS and one from SGA. It is good that we include students in the process, but I think that two students from two organizations aren't enough to get a student-friendly schedule.

Last year for example, Kathy Griffin performed on the Saturday evening of Homecoming. Why isn't there a similar evening event this year? One organization that should be involved in the process is SocComm. SocComm plans both the Winter Carnival and Quadfest. SocComm also planned the Kathy Griffin show at last year's Homecoming. If they were involved in Homecoming in the future, there would almost definitely be more events in which students want to participate. They could also do better at advertising Homecoming here on campus. There seemed to more advertising for Homecoming last year. This year, advertising started very late, and there wasn't the same strong push to get freshmen interested in the Rope Pull.

All these factors seem to suggest that Homecoming isn't geared toward today's WPI students; instead it is geared towards those students who have long since left WPI.