Homecoming at Mississippi State University is an opportunity for the students and alumni to come together to celebrate a football win, reunite with old friends and see what the new generation of MSU students has accomplished.
It is tradition at MSU for two girls in each of the class years to represent the members of their graduating year. In addition, a queen is chosen to represent the school in its entirety and a Mr. and Miss MSU to represent their classmates and personal involvement in the institution. All of the positions are filled by a voting system which allows the participating voters of the student body of MSU to choose who they wish to represent their university.
Over the past few years, the voting process and campaigning for the possible representatives of the Homecoming maids and queen has become overwhelming in the opinion of some students. One student with an open opinion of the Homecoming elections Brittany Jenkins, senior communications major.
“I think Homecoming is a little overrated and the campaigning is total overkill, but I did vote for the people I thought deserved it, not just because of the sorority they are in,” she said.
Some MSU students have begun to wonder if the purpose of Homecoming has been lost amongst the hype of voting, campaigning and the ever-stylish Homecoming court. Keri Steger, senior communication major, shared her concern of the loss of focus on the real purpose of Homecoming: to represent our university.
“I think Homecoming is a good tradition, but I think all of the campaigning gets a little overwhelming at times and people get lost in the winning aspect instead of why the girls were nominated to be on Homecoming court in the first place,” she said.
Some students do not understand they are treated like the most popular person to step foot on the Drill Field, come election day. One of the students with this mentality is sophomore Mac Thatcher.
“I had ‘friends’ that I didn’t even know on election day,” he said.
Many members of the student body are concerned Homecoming court is no longer simply an opportunity for students to represent the current student body of MSU in front of the alumni but instead a popularity contest among the sororities. Former student sharing in this concern is Maddi Mailly.
“I think it’s a good opportunity for the students to have the chance to get together and socialize, but, as far as the elections go, there are so many different campaigns going on it is hard to really ‘get to know’ who is running. It just seems like a popularity contest instead of someone being chosen to represent our university based on their merit,” she said.
Other students seem to share a burning hatred for not only the elections and campaigns but also for the event itself. Some believe the best plan of action in accordance to the subject of homecoming would simply be to eliminate the homecoming court from existence. One of the students sharing in the intense passion against the event is Adam Keyes.
“If Homecoming was a sick dog … I would have put it down by now,” he said.
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Homecoming elections: overkill
EMMA HOLMES
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October 30, 2011
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