Lucye Rafferty/The Hoya Cheerleaders promote school spirit in the Southwest Quadrangle. This year’s Homecoming Committee also looks to instill Hoya spirit in alumni returning to the Hilltop for this weekend’s Homecoming fest

Expanded programming and a revised tailgating are just some of the changes that students and returning alumni may notice at Georgetown’s annual Homecoming this weekend this year.

But this year’s event marks a concerted attempt to establish a new type of Homecoming tradition, beyond the usual emphasis on the football game and tailgating party.

For 11 months now, a steering committee consisting of over 30 students, alumni, faculty and staff has been planning events intended to attract a more diverse range of alumni, especially less recent graduates. The revamped programming is part of a three-year development plan aimed at expanding the appeal of Homecoming weekend.

New additions to Homecoming Weekend this year include faculty seminars, a kickoff concert, a community service event, a 5K road race, bagel breakfasts, an iconography tour and tour of the Southwest Quadrangle in addition to the annual Patrick Healy awards dinner.

“There has been great interest in the expanded schedule from all generations of alumni,” Matthew Lambert, associate director for class advancement in the Office of Alumni and University Relations, said. “There was a desire to offer more diverse programming that fully represents all aspects of campus . that would give all generations of alumni a reason to return.”

Lambert added that the university expects between 2,000 and 3,000 alumni to return this weekend, an increase in attendance from previous years. For the first time, Georgetown will track alumni attendance, counting participants by using an admission charge but also with advance online registration.

Registration has been run through a new Homecoming Web site, homecoming.georgetown.edu. “There have been Homecoming Web sites in the past, however, none as professionally done and comprehensive as this one,” Homecoming Student Coordinator Patrick Hughes (COL ’05) said. The site also features this year’s homecoming theme – “There’s No Place Like Homecoming” – and logo, which were designed by Jessie Beers-Altman (COL ’04).

Almost 900 alumni have already registered for the Tailgate, Hughes added. He also noted that while general reaction to the Homecoming changes has been positive, there were “some negative responses” as well, especially concerning the tailgating party. This year, the event will be held in the cDonough Gymnasium parking lot instead of the traditional Lot T location, since the lot was to be occupied by equipment during renovation of the Ryan Administration building into the Royden B. Davis, S.J., Performing Arts Center. Participants will not be allowed to bring their cars or their own food and drink. The university, however, will provide soda, beer and all-you-can-eat Rocklands barbeque for $5 (or $3 without the alcohol).

“While construction [on campus] continues, we will, of course, lose wide open spaces. Therefore, the move to McDonough Parking Lot was unavoidable,” Hughes said. “However . the [Homecoming Steering] Committee feels that for everything it has seemingly taken away, it has given back to the community this weekend to a much greater degree than ever before.”

Alumni Homecoming Chair Michael Boyle (MSB ’00) agreed that “the event will be a huge success and everybody will enjoy themselves,” but expressed concern about OAUR’s willingness to work with and heed input from alumni themselves.

“OAUR has been slow to show any creativity, and the initiative to promote and grow the weekend has come from alumni, not from within OAUR. At times OAUR has even opposed alumni instead of supporting them and being the voice for alumni when the committee gathers around the table,” he said.

“The administration and faculty are obviously valuable partners whose concerns should be addressed and whose input is more than welcome . however, the decision-making power within the committee should reside among the students and alumni, who have proven themselves capable and responsible enough to program numerous successful events around campus.”

This year’s Homecoming Weekend was planned by a number of organizations in addition to the Homecoming Steering Committee, such as Graduates of the Last Decade, OAUR, Student Affairs, the Athletic Department, Campus Ministry, the Provost’s Office, the FRIENDS initiative and the Georgetown Program Board.

In the future, Homecoming planners said they would like to focus on including an even greater variety of programming that would facilitate interactions between alumni of varying ages and backgrounds. One idea outlined in a February 2003 memo from the Homecoming Executive Committee is a week of events leading up to Homecoming Weekend that would incorporate Traditions Day as well. The team also envisioned instituting concerts, comedy shows or variety shows on the Friday that traditionally involved a Hoya Stock Battle of the Bands. In the future, the committee would also keep the Sunday programming that is new this year and includes an Alumni mass, presidential brunch and seminars.

Boyle said he is looking forward to this year’s Homecoming and hopes that the new traditions will help keep more alumni involved with their alma mater. “I love being at Georgetown and want everyone else around me to love it too,” he said. “As an alum, there’s a large disconnect – lots of students walk out the door and lose touch. There’s no mechanism to keep you in touch . I’ve always been really involved and felt a lot more could be done to build community at Georgetown.”

Some alumni, like Cheryl Metzger (COL ’03), will not return to the Hilltop for Homecoming. “I’ve moved on from Georgetown and am doing my own thing,” she said. “The people I want to see I’m still in contact with, so Homecoming doesn’t offer much for me.” She added that she was frustrated with the university’s response to controversial remarks made in Cardinal Francis Arinze’s speech during her commencement this past spring, which had expressed condemnation of certain practices and lifestyles, among them homosexuality.

Metzger says she feels “let down” by the administration and feels disconnected from Georgetown in a larger sense; as a result, she will not attend this weekend’s events. “The social aspect of Georgetown I don’t need and the Georgetown aspect I don’t want,” she said.

Boyle said that many older Hoya alumni decline to attend Homecoming because the programming has traditionally been geared at students and younger alumni.

“If you’re eight years out, or 15 years out, are you going to come back to booze in a parking lot and dance on your car?” Boyle said.

It is these types of issues that the Homecoming planning committees have been working so hard this year to try to address. “This year, there is expanded programming to better showcase the great treasures and heritage of our campus,” Lambert said. “In the coming years, we hope to continue to add new and diverse programming so that all alumni and students have something to enjoy during Homecoming weekend.”