When you think of Homecoming at UT Martin, and mostly any college in the South, many things come to mind, including football, campus events and homecoming royalty.
Many people can agree that football is the center point of homecoming for a university, as it is the reason for the whole ordeal. However, they also wonder why are we still doing royalty elections in college. Isn’t it a bit juvenile?
When you are in high school, Homecoming court is a major popularity contest to see who is most loved by those that year. In college, it’s a way to see which organization, aka fraternity or sorority, has the most pull.
This starts with the Interfraternity Conference (IFC) and College Panhellenic Council (CPC) putting up tables with themes and treats for students to come by and take during their walks in the University Center. You cannot escape them. Yes the treats are very good and I always enjoy a nice little pick me up, but sometimes it’s a little overbearing.
Now, notice how I have only mentioned the IFC candidates and CPC candidates. For those who don’t know, UT Martin has different kinds of sororities and fraternities. The IFC fraternities include Alpha Gamma Rho, Kappa Alpha Order, Pi Kappa Alpha, Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Sigma Chi. CPCs sororities are Alpha Delta Pi, Alpha Omicron Pi, Chi Omega, Zeta Tau Alpha and Sigma Alpha.
These Greek organizations are some of the biggest, if not the biggest, on campus. You have men and women coming in droves every semester to join and it makes a huge swing to one side with anything voting. If you are backed by one of these organizations, you can be sure you at least are going to be on the court.
Compare this to the National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) also known as The Divine Nine. The nine historically Black sororities and fraternities including Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc. and Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc.
As a predominantly white institution (PWI), it’s no wonder why the NPHC members normally come together and sponsor one candidate as a council instead of a candidate sponsored by each organization. Their number of members is way smaller than the IFC and CPC, so they have to come together to even have a chance of getting on the court.
Then moving on to small organizations that have people run, they have no chance really. You have these organizations with thousands of dollars behind them to get treats and put their name out there compared to a small-budget organization. It’s really a battle of money and influence when you think about it, as it always has been.
It’s also not until recently that non-Greek Life organizations have been able to participate in things such as Lip Sync. My freshman year, everything was centered around Greek Life; it felt demeaning as a girl who wasn’t in a sorority because I wanted to participate in my first college homecoming but couldn’t. Now, the events are open to anyone and most of the time, the non-Greek life competitors steal the show.
So how does this all connect to the question, why do we still do Homecoming royalty?
The answer, in my opinion, is that we all love a popularity contest. We all love to see people try to win votes for something so fleeting and meaningless that it makes you chuckle. So go out and vote for whoever you want because the real vote that matters is next month.
