The Homecoming Dance is back on

“As traditions chair, I am here to give students what they want,” said Maren Barnett, “and this is what they want.”

Following announcement the Homecoming dance was canceled, Barnett said student feedback came back loud and clear.

“I can’t tell you how many e-mails I got,” she said. “The people who were passionate about it were the ones who have attended in the past.”

While the dance is returning, it will be informal this year, and will actually be similar to the pre-game party already planned. The emphasis, however, will be on dancing.

“We want it to be a dance atmosphere,” Bryce Cranney, Homecoming co-chair, said. “But not everyone likes to dance so we will also have other activities. We want accommodate the whole USU population.”

Barnett said the decision to axe the formal dance in the first place came from student feedback implying that $20 was just too much for a ticket and that the majority of students don’t want to dress up. Many students said they wanted an activity that was more active.

“Change is hard for everyone,” Cranney said. “We heard mostly from students who opposed taking it away, even though most people don’t go to it. The dance is still tradition. We decided to stick with that tradition and add a new twist.”

The dance will take place in the TSC on Friday, Oct. 7 from 9 p.m. to 12 a.m. and unlike the formal, will be free to USU students. Tickets are $5 for non-students.

“It’ll be homecoming and more,” she said. “It will be dance oriented but there will still be activities for people who aren’t into dancing.”

While dates are still encouraged, they aren’t necessary, Barnett said. With a large variety of disc jockeys and live bands there will be something for everyone she said, whether your taste is big band or swing, single or married.

“We want this to be a fun evening for students to get to know people,” she said.

The dress code for the dance “is whatever makes people feel comfortable,” Barnett said.

In the past, she said, the dance has mainly been attended by freshman and sophomores. Barnett says she hopes the changes will encourage more uperclassmen to attend.

“We want to get as many people as we can this year and afterwards, get feedback. We really want feedback,” she said.

Depending on student response, the new tradition might continue, or the formal dance could be reinstated. Both Barnett and Cranney said cost had very little to do with either of the committee’s decision.

“It wasn’t the fact we were losing money. Attendance was down, but if hundreds of thousands of students were attending, we wouldn’t care,” she said. “We were losing money because students weren’t coming.”

Justification for spending thousands of dollars of student money on a dance only a select group of students were attending was hard to come by, she added.

A lot of feedback came from disappointed almuni, Barnett said.

“We are very grateful to alumni,” she said, “but ASUSU’s responsibility is to put on activities for students.”

A formal dance is tentatively scheduled for December, Barnett said, in order to accommodate students who enjoy the formal atmosphere and as a way to raise money for a needy family.

-bnelson@cc.usu.edu