Coming up next week: Meet the Homecoming Court, Celebrate NU Day, Midnight Madness and various Homecoming events including the Homecoming parade, carnival and football game.
So, where should we meet up?
What, you mean you’re not going? You don’t care about any of this stuff? You own more Boston College apparel than Northeastern?
At 8 a.m. next Saturday morning, probably less than 150 students will march through Northeastern’s streets. They will pull their floats and blow their horns, and then maybe the same 150 students will make their way to Parsons Field for the Homecoming football game.
Every year the Council for University Programs attempts to draw students to these events but the fact remains that many Northeastern students couldn’t care less.
First of all, any school that is ranked by the 2004 Princeton Review as No. 18 in “professors make themselves scarce,” No. 10 in “long lines and red tape” and No. 13 in “students dissatisfied with financial aid” is already on the wrong track.
As far as school spirit goes, the football field is about two-and-a-half miles away. It’s kind of ironic that a “home”-coming game will take you about 20 minutes on foot. It’s just not worth it to many students.
And that’s two-and-a-half miles IF you live on campus, which about half of you don’t. The “community” of Northeastern is spread around the Fenway, Mission Hill and Jamaica Plain neighborhoods.
Add to this all the normal aggravations that come with being a college student: hating homework, required classes, tough professors, high tuition and struggling with money. That’s a lot of stuff to overcome, and maybe one or all of these things stops you from slathering on the red face paint.
But, it’s time we stop feeling bad for ourselves as Northeastern students. We have great things like the Dog House, the NU Shuffle Web site and the feeling that it’s “us against the world” when we are blamed for everything that goes wrong around Northeastern.
People around the city are mocking NU students and it’s hard to fight that perception when the only place we choose to congregate together is on Hemenway Street and the only team we support is whatever group of idiots is that night’s “flipping car” squad.
There is a whole week of events coming up and CUP has worked really hard to make them fun for you. Northeastern is seriously considering the whole football stadium on campus thing and they are furiously building more residence halls to aid the “community” process.
We’re asking you to stop for a second and take a look at the red “Homecoming 2004” signs CUP has posted around campus. Find just one event you think you might like and go. Just one.
It’s all about baby steps.
