While the Red Sox World Series victory parade may have drawn millions into the streets of Boston, it also drew Northeastern students away from annual Homecoming events.
The Council for University Programs (CUP) accounted for the possibility of a low turnout and scaled down Homecoming events this year because of the competition with the Red Sox parade.
“We’re not going to make students choose one or the other,” said Director of Campus Activities and Programs Brooke Tempesta. “This is history — Homecoming can happen again next year.”
Although Homecoming still featured Midnight Madness, a carnival, Celebrate NU Day and a high-profile performance by comedian Lewis Black, the usual parade was replaced with a float showcase, parked in the library quad.
“The students still wanted to build their floats,” Tempesta said. “Students who wanted to participate in the parade did.”
Despite competition with the parade and rainy weather, CUP President Allyson Savin said over 400 people passed through the float display and carnival.
“It’s hard to compete with the Red Sox winning for the first time in 86 years,” Savin said. “It’s rough to spend so much of your time and energy and then see this totally out of control thing happen, but we’re extremely happy with the turnout.”
Savin said she and CUP have reason to be happy, because Homecoming performer Lewis Black successfully sold out Blackman Auditorium on Saturday. Savin said she attributed the lastminute boom in ticket sales to students waiting to see if the series would go to Game Six, which would have taken place at the same time.
While some students may not have attended the event, over 1,900 students voted for Homecoming King and Queen, almost four times the 500 votes that were cast last year. Tempesta said moving the voting online onto the MyNeu Web site (www.myneu.neu.edu) increased student participation.
CUP has already begun to rethink how they will plan for next year’s Homecoming. Savin said the committee that plans Homecoming will begin to meet in January to plan next year’s festivities as opposed to waiting until the summer as they have in the past.
Student Government Association (SGA) Vice President for Financial Affairs Alison Barlow said conversations still need to take place with CUP as to how the money saved by cutting back Homecoming will be reallocated, whether it be within the group or within the Student Activities Fee.
-Staff writer Bobby Hankinson
