While Dartmouth students may struggle to explain the flair-filled revelry of Homecoming weekend to their friends at other schools, colleges and universities across the country also celebrate the fall season with various traditions and celebrations.
Both Pennsylvania State University and Howard University have elaborate Homecoming celebrations boasting an entire two weeks of festivities each, according to Penn State Homecoming Public Relations Director Marta Jonca and the Howard University website. The first week of Homecoming at Penn State, which began Oct. 3, is filled with spirit days designed to unite the campus, Jonca said. Students dress up in pink and black the school's original colors, according to Jonca.
"[One spirit day] is Dress as [Penn State head football coach] Joe Paterno Day'," Jonca said. "We're all really excited to see how everybody decides to interpret this one."
Penn State's most important homecoming tradition is its annual Homecoming Parade on Oct. 14, which is advertised as the largest student-run collegiate homecoming parade in the nation, according to Jonca.
Fraternities, sororities and other student-run organizations spend days designing and perfecting the floats that trumpet through the center of town, Jonca said.
Howard University's Homecoming festivities earn a number of high-profile sponsors, including Nike, Black Entertainment Television, Comcast and AT&T this year alone, according to Howard's Homecoming website. The event's most notable activities include a celebrity basketball game, step show, annual fashion show and YardFest, a student-run carnival, its website said.
With its tremendously active alumni program, the University of Arizona's long-standing homecoming traditions focus on giving university benefactors a chance to relive their college days, according to Scott Koenig, assistant director of development and alumni relations at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
Major traditions for the Arizona Wildcats' Homecoming weekend include the "AgCat" Open Golf Tournament and the annual dean's Almost World Famous Burrito Breakfast and Alumni Auction, Koenig said. The golf tournament, which the Agricultural College has sponsored for 25 years, began as a way to invite returning alumni to play golf, he said. Today, it serves as a means to contribute to an "AgCat" endowment fund now worth more than $85,000, according to Koenig.
"The purpose of the tournament is not only to golf, but also to raise money for the four agricultural scholarships that are given out every year," he said.
At Duke University, students look forward to the annual Dick's Ball a formal dance named for Duke's president Richard H. Brodhead over their Oct. 23 Homecoming weekend, according to Duke alumnus Nathaniel Hill, who graduated in 2011. The Duke administration recently cancelled the school's annual costume-filled football tailgate party due to concerns over dangerous and excessive alcohol use, according to Hill. Hill was also president of Duke's Hoof n' Horns cabaret troupe, which preforms at Homecoming each year and celebrated 75th anniversary this year.
Smaller schools celebrate Homecoming with unique traditions and many schools held Homecoming celebrations last weekend, according to students interviewed by The Dartmouth.
Tufts University celebrated with parties and a "pathetic form of tailgating," according to Tufts sophomore Kyra Sturgill.
"There were a lot of students drinking outside at frats during the day, and parties at various places at night," Sturgill said. "There was a football game as well, but lots of people went to the soccer game instead because our football team sucks. It was fun to have so many more people on campus than usual."
Homecoming at Georgetown University, which also occurred last weekend, featured a "Mr. Georgetown Pageant," in which 13 student nominees competed for the crown, according to sophomore Mallory Widell. Drinking and sports filled the "entertaining and fun" weekend agenda, Widell said.
"On Saturday morning we had a tailgate in the parking lot near the football field," she said. "Everyone was basically dancing around to live music and drinking and even though you had to be 21 to get a cup, it seemed like everyone was having fun."
Wesleyan University's Homecoming welcomes its alumni back for "WESeminars," which provide opportunities for alumni to "revisit the classroom and experience firsthand the academic excellence that is the essence of Wesleyan," according to their website.
Wesleyan also provides a chance for alumni athletes to relive their former participation in athletic teams, the university's website said. The university's squash team, for example, invites its alumni to play against the present men's and women's varsity squads in a friendly competition.
