Homecoming [hohm-kuhm-ing] noun an annual event held by a college, university, or high school for visiting alumni.Let us remember that, West Chester.
Homecoming is not an excuse to get drunk for a weekend nor is it an excuse to get drunk at 10 a.m.
Recently this week, a student said to a member of our staff, “Oh, I don’t think I’ll be going to the football game. I plan to be drunk by then.”
The Quad doesn’t hate alcohol consumption on this campus or any campus, but our homecoming has lost its respect with some alumni.
Homecoming represents a lot of great things: a fantastic and competitive parade, a usually dominating West Chester football victory, and many great homecoming events like the concert and pep rally Friday night.
These are the things that make alumni come back year after year and celebrate their academic roots: exactly why “WCU Rocks.”
But there is a select few that look at homecoming just as the student above said his plans were.
“Well, that’s college,” one might say. It is a portion of any school.whether it’s a party school or not. Alcohol is enriched in collegiate culture.
Look at the even more ”hardcore” paty schools like Penn State. Some students live off-campus, don’t even attend the school and make a living off college students who want to drink seven days a week. We all know of them.
PSU is by far not the only school to be immersed with inebriation. West Chester has very active student nightlife, its good but its not everything.
Granted with everything going on — the Phillies and Homecoming– celebration is warranted in some cases. There is a limit. West Chester is surrounded by a community of people that do not deserve complete and utter disorderly behavior that results in or requires police presence, arrests, or violence.
Remember with everything going on in the future, enjoy yourselves, but don’t destroy your community, your neighbors or your standing in the world. We are college students, so we should have some level of respectability.
After all, college is about raising your level of respect in the world. When we leave WCU, one of the first questions we will be asked is: Where did you go to school?
Future employers, the source of the type of life you will be living, do not have to view your college experience as a typical “party school” or a joke: so remember YOUR actions will decide this.