The Panther

College campuses are notorious for being filled with students who are brimming with youthful energy. It is no big surprise that many students at Prairie View A & M University look forward to Homecoming as an opportunity not only to show enormous school spirit, but also to spend some of that excess youthful energy. But are we spending it in appropriate ways?

Streaking and food fights have recently become popular outlets for excess energy and school spirit. And with good reason-they're both incredibly fun activities. Streaking can get you arrested for public indecency, and food fights are against university policy (and could nab you a $250 fine!), but neither deterrent seems to stop the fun that is the Prairie View school spirit.

Is a reputation for rowdiness and lewdness really something we want to have? After all, the sign at the front of the campus reads, "Prairie View Produces Productive People" not "Prairie View Produces Naked Productive People." Food fights are particularly bad-they end up shutting down the cafeteria and inconveniencing students who rely on it to eat (not to mention forcing other people to pick up our messes). The argument should go like this: if you want to start a food fight, at least have the decency to stick around to clean it up.

Perhaps it is time for some students at Prairie View to use their creativity to come up with more positive outlets for school spirit-like showing up at games, for instance.

Spontaneous activities don't necessarily have to be lewd like streaking or immature like food fights-campus cookouts organized by student leaders would be just as exciting and spontaneous. Organizing impromptu dodgeball tournaments or basketball tournaments would be just as much fun as slinging mashed potatoes at one another from across the cafeteria (and not against university policy).

The problem that most people have with Homecoming stems from the fact that there is always a hype that Homecoming has to live up to. Every Homecoming never seems to live up to the excitement of the previous year, and many believe that the event is becoming stale. The Campus Activities Board rarely allows students to submit suggestions (of course, even if they did, how many of us would really submit something?), and the Homecoming events often don't reflect the desires of the students.

Take poetry night for example. Many students enjoy hearing poetry every once in a while, but between the poetry slam and every other organization having a poetry event every other week, a lot of people are simply burned out on poetry. Comedy shows are nice, but only when CAB books decent comics (of course, administration could show the Homecoming budget a little more love as well), and why can't students come together to throw a pool party or a barbecue? Leaders of the campus should get more involved with listening to students, and students should spend more energy coming up with creative ways to celebrate Homecoming.

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