With a little more than half of the student body involved in Greek life, sororities and fraternities are undeniably a major part of student life at Furman. As Homecoming approaches once more, fraternities and sororities buzz about preparing to participate in inter-organization competitions and, once again, independent students feel the lack of invitation to participate in Homecoming events. This then begs the question: Is Homecoming at Furman too Greek?
A major part of Homecoming for current students is the inter-organization competition. While, technically, the competition is open to all organizations, only sororities, fraternities and Engaged Living participate. If only half of the student body participates, or rather if only Greek students participate, does this demonstrate a crack in the system that disvalues unity and the inclusion of the entire student population?
To enter in the official Homecoming competition, a group has to participate in every event, including a corn hole tournament which determines the individual themes, Horseplay skit and cheer, chalk art drawing, Dining Hall banner decoration and, the most challenging of all, a float on the Mall. All these events must fall under the theme given to each specific organization. To complete all of the mentioned events, participants need a great deal of organization and, most importantly, money. It is expensive to buy the lumber, provide the tissue paper, print and design the t-shirt, and more that the competition demands. Time is also a major factor when participating in these events. It requires a great deal of time to write a script, cast students for roles, rehearse, build the foundation for the float, pomp the float with tissue paper and newspaper, and finally paint the float, all the while coordinating with others to take care of different tasks. Even the chalking competition takes hours to color in each organization’s square. Also, because Homecoming is scheduled right after midterms, volunteers are hard to acquire. If it has not been clearly articulated, participating in Homecoming is not an easy feat to undertake.
The primary reason there are only two types of groups of organizations that participate in Homecoming is that there are simply no other large student groups and the Homecoming events are impossible to accomplish without a large volunteer base. The Greek organizations are the largest student organizations on campus and Engaged Living has a large membership too. Other than sororities, fraternities, and Engaged Living, there really are not any other groups large, organized, or financially— equipped enough to plan and fund a complete entry in the Homecoming competition. Even the Greek organizations pair up when entering the competition in order to avoid completing the arduous tasks alone. This speaks to how financial- and labor-intensive the Homecoming competitions are.
In a perfect world, a variety of student organizations would participate in the Homecoming competition and the winner would not always be from the same type of organization. It is important to keep in mind, however, that Greek organizations are not at fault. Many people do not participate because of how work-intensive participation is, especially at such a busy time of the academic year. While the competition is designed in such a way that Homecoming is inevitably a heavily Greek-based event, Independent students are also given different, though just as important opportunities to participate in Homecoming. There are plenty of other events to attend that are less of a commitment both financially and temporally. Havoc, the carnival with food, rides and games, a bonfire, pep rally, and the football game are just a few of the many Homecoming events open to all students.
Ultimately, Homecoming is about the alumni, regardless of whether they were Greek or not, returning to Furman this particular weekend to reminisce and reunite with their Furman family, both Greek and Independent. Homecoming at its core is inclusive, but it is very unfortunate that the system designed for the competitions naturally creates a divide between Greeks and Independents. Again, who is to blame but the system that has been placed before us? Furman should not be a school of blindly following whatever is given to us. Furman students are in the process of being trained to think for themselves and, thus, to create a society and world in which everybody benefits. Why not start with Homecoming?