Students give feedback on potential homecoming changes; Student Affairs continues considerations for next year

According to Sara Bailey, director of Student Activities, Student Affairs and Homecoming Committee have been considering several constructive ideas in light of complaints and issues raised by Homecoming evaluations in the past two years.

"We’ve been starting to hear a lot more Greeks saying that they are tired of having to be forced to be going to all of the events," Bailey said. "Also, there have been individuals who have walked off the committee largely in part not to being able to be unbiased about the decisions that were made and how they affected their specific chapter."

The proposal to reconceptualize Homecoming according to a class competition was suggested to Student Affairs in November 2010, Bailey said, and it would address the aforementioned issues, among others.

"With the transition to spring rush and recruitment, it has created more of a natural sense of [class competition], especially when looking at the first-year team, because they already compete together, and just carry that through [to the other classes]," Bailey said.

Members of the Homecoming Committee and Student Affairs generally begin making plans for Homecoming during spring semester. Thus, in preparation from Homecoming 2011, the Committee began investigating student opinions at the start of April, with a survey sent through email to 875 students. Of the roughly 350 students who responded, Bailey cited a fairly even split between those in favor completely shifting the Homecoming structure and those who preferred to keep the current system.

Moreover, students suggested various ways in which Homecoming could be changed, or refocused, with other methods.

"As we looked at the survey polls there was definitely a [trend toward a] more Jewell-community oriented Homecoming. It’s great that the competition is there, but at the

same time we also are celebrating the homecoming of alumni," Abby Blevins, sophomore and co-director of Homecoming Committee, said.

After data from the survey responses was compiled and analyzed, Student Affairs joined Student Senate in hosting the town hall meeting. According to Bailey, approximately 50-75 students attended.

"The first portion of the meeting was very much students realizing that we hadn’t made a decision yet, and we truly wanted their response and their input. The end of the meeting is when it became a collaborative time of everyone [thinking] ‘what can we do?’" Bailey said.

Several perspectives were shared, including athletes who said that Greek cheers directed at other Greeks, rather than united cheers for William Jewell teams, could become distractions during Homecoming games. Attending first-years indicated that the leadership of residence hall directors was, essentially, the reason for their participation in Homecoming, and further implied that more involved leadership and communication could aid the Independent Homecoming experience.

A few students proposed that Independents should form their own team instead of being partnered with a sorority. Still others suggested that if Homecoming is indeed changed to a class-based system, Greeks should have a similar week in the spring when they could retain their competition through a Court-warming.

"As the meeting went on, …we were able to dissect those main points that were thrown out and eventually go on from there. I feel like it was very constructive and productive. It helped a lot to have their input because there are some things that they do that we just don’t see," Blevins said.

Kasia Kovacs can be reached at  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.