Illustration by Leona Novio

Money might not be able to buy you love, but it certainly seems like it can buy you a Homecoming trophy at the University of Nevada, Reno.

During this year’s Homecoming, the team of Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Kappa Alpha Theta was crowned the victor of the week-and-a-half long competition. While both chapters remained competitive throughout Homecoming, it did not seem likely that the team would win as they held onto third place leading into the Pack Gives Back care package competition, the last chance to receive points for the week. Thus, when the chapters were announced as the winners during the Homecoming game, some concerns were raised about how much the teams had relied on the care packages to win.

The scoring system was predicated on teams creating care packages to give to the homeless of Reno, a noble task that yielded impressive results. However, unlike every other event throughout Homecoming, there was no cap on how many points a team could earn, giving competitors with the most disposable income a seemingly unfair advantage.

This was made evident in an article posted by KRNV a few days after Homecoming in which SAE member Connor Blakeman was quoted saying, “we decreased our social budget for our dances and formals, we cut it by $1,500 in order to donate more to the survival kits.”

While we commend the chapters for prioritizing philanthropy over social activities, this quote demonstrates how it would have been nearly impossible for another club, particularly non-Greek organizations, to win Homecoming without a budget to spend on care packages.

This also begs the question: if Homecoming can be bought with chapter funds, why would any non-Greek teams feel inclined to participate?

While the March from the Arch was a bigger success in its second year, the event could have benefitted from wider campus and student involvement. Despite the efforts by the few non-Greek teams, it was clear that fraternities and sororities had the advantage of manpower and money when building a float.

At the end of the night, judges chose all-Greek floats for first through third place. This is particularly damning for any non-Greek team hoping to win as the float competition awarded the most points of any Homecoming event (1,000) other than the unlimited points that could be earned from Pack Gives Pack.

However, there are strategies to combat this competitive inequality among participants. First, since a group of 10 or more people can create a group for Homecoming, events that emphasize skill and talent over manpower and money should have the highest point values (think more State of Nevada Videos and Wolves Frolic-type events). Further, the second-highest point values should be placed on attendance-based events that take into account the percentage of club members that show up relative to the size of their club instead of sheer numbers. This was the case with the Diplo concert this year, but the high-level point values should have been consistent across all attendance events.

Beyond leveling the competitive playing field, Homecoming should also seek to give smaller clubs a more vested interest in contributing to the festivities.

Clubs and organizations could have benefitted from partnering with Associated Students of the University of Nevada to put on smaller events under the Homecoming banner. Having clubs work with ASUN to plan their own signature Homecoming events would theoretically take away some of the pressure from the traditions and programming boards. This would draw in an audience for that club that would normally not be engaged in the traditional Homecoming events.

Imagine giving some responsibility to the Nerf Club of Reno to help organize a campus-wide Nerf war that could count towards Homecoming points. Waivers and risk management pending, this would be an incredibly fun and engaging event for everyone on campus. Even if the club is not participating in the competitive part of Homecoming, they would still be more involved in the overall festivities.

By tapping into the resources of more clubs on campus, there would easily be more noticeable involvement by non-Greek students. Granted, this would give clubs more responsibility, but if the ASUN programming boards could find a way to collaborate with these clubs to plan large-scale events, the results could change campus involvement in Homecoming forever.

It should be noted that this year’s Homecoming was a major success in many ways. Thanks to the Pack Gives Back competition, nearly 6,000 survival kits were made for the homeless in Reno. The March from the Arch had record attendance and even though Nevada lost to Boise State, Mackay Stadium sold out for the seventh time in campus history. However, we encourage clubs and student leaders alike to constantly ask how to make it even better next year.

Utilizing the membership and resources of more clubs on campus would boost the overall attendance numbers all Homecoming events. The integration of the campus should be the overall goal of the event instead of buying a trophy to display in your house. Homecoming is about embracing the past and future of the university, if only a certain portion of the campus participates in the event it will not be serving its essential purpose.

The Nevada Sagebrush editorial staff can be reached at cboline@sagebrush.unr.edu.