The mission of Homecoming is to celebrate university traditions and show off school spirit. The ultimate goal of Homecoming is to unite the campus and Wolf Pack community.

The Homecoming packet distributed between teams concisely stated, “To increase participation and enthusiasm for the Silver and Blue cup, this 2015 Homecoming competition will feature an all new division system based on the size of the tribe.”

In past years it was very obvious that Homecoming wasn’t very much of a fair competition. It was more of a Greek community takeover which left the dorm halls and other competitors feeling a sense of frustration toward the unfair system. It was looked at as a “bought competition,” where Greeks bought whatever they could to give their team a competitive edge. The craft stores are flooded with Greek community members who try to buy the flashiest items to put their team ahead in the competition. Because of the funding Greek Chapters get, they were able to easily take over the games and always come out on top leaving competitors such as the dorm halls in the dust.

However, the new implementation of subdivision teams helped students outside of the Greek organizations get involved and have a fair shot at winning a title.

The blue and white divisions participating in Homecoming received a much more substantial turnout than in previous years. The participants in these divisions regarded Homecoming as more of a fair competition this year in which they were actually excited to be a part of.

The Associated Students of the University of Nevada received thanks from dorm hall staff members who repeatedly thanked those in charge of organizing Homecoming for aiming to make the games a more fair set of events.

As far as homecoming participation goes, it seemed that the new changes substantially improved proud involvement in this year’s Homecoming.

“In the past, [competitors outside Greek life] had never really been included in Homecoming so it was so great to see them happy to be included,” ASUN Director of Programming Tazia Statucki said.

However, because attendance numbers from this year’s events have not yet been calculated, there is no clear evidence that attendance has significantly improved.

Despite the seeming increase in Homecoming participation, there is no denying the fact that ASUN has significant room for improvements. Competition is ruthless during Homecoming week. It seems that more often than not, teams are ready to rip each other’s throats out instead of remembering we are all one university. Maybe in the future promotional Homecoming videos can be circulated to remind students to keep the competition friendly. We are all one big community and Homecoming should do a better job at reminding us that.

This year the turnout for the actual Homecoming football game was pitiful. The stands were barren, to say the least. It is not ASUN’s job to drag students out to the game. However, some change needs to be implemented for future Nevada generations in order to get the full Homecoming experience.

It is no secret Homecoming is a great annual event to promote school spirit. Although ASUN should always strive to make each Homecoming better than the year before, we as a campus community should applaud the steps being taken to reclaim Homecoming as a celebration that everyone feels welcome to participate in.