California Lutheran University's Student Newspaper Since 1961

The Echo

California Lutheran University's Student Newspaper Since 1961

The Echo

California Lutheran University's Student Newspaper Since 1961

The Echo

    Schedule Change Means no Homecoming Carnival, But One Is Coming in Spring

    The homecoming carnival, originally planned for the night of Oct. 20, will not happen this year because of a scheduling conflict with the homecoming football game. However, students can still look forward to a signature spring carnival put on by the Associated Students of California Lutheran University Programs Board. 

    ASCLU Programs Board Director Heather Wilson-Hooker said it was a “pretty easy decision” to not host the homecoming carnival this year. She said that choice was made in the spring after Alumni and Family Relations chose to move the football game to the evening, which would conflict with the carnival. 

    The homecoming football game against Chapman University was moved to 7 p.m., rather than the 1 p.m. time slot it filled in the past.

    The annual homecoming carnival is a tradition for Cal Lutheran that happens annually following the homecoming football game. The event is free to the community and a chance for visiting families to take part in homecoming festivities.

    But, the tradition of a carnival will not be totally lost this year. Programs Board voted 12-2 with one abstention to host a signature spring carnival in place of having a dance next semester, according to the Sept. 15 meeting minutes.

    Ideas proposed for the spring carnival at the meeting included having an event theme, offering rides, closing off Memorial Pkwy and collaborating with iCLU Radio.

    All other homecoming events scheduled for Oct. 19-21, including Picnic in the Park and the Loop da Lu 5K Family Run/Walk, are taking place as scheduled, Wilson-Hooker said.

    The ASCLUG-sponsored event for homecoming week will be Monte Carlo Night on Oct. 19. Hooker said Programs Board is trying to make Monte Carlo “more of an event than a dance…to attract a better audience and get more students involved” because of feedback from students last year.

    “You really just see students get to know more about campus and things that they really like or things they want to change, and [ASCLUG] has the opportunity to do that, which I think is really awesome just to be a part of that,” Wilson-Hooker said. “One of the things that I really wanted to make sure of is the Board is doing really quality-oriented events and they’re doing things that maybe are different, new and unique.”

    Most of the events during homecoming weekend are planned and put on by the Cal Lutheran Alumni and Family Relations and Student Life offices, Wilson-Hooker said.

    Cal Lutheran President Chris Kimball said during his State of the University Address on Sept. 18 that with the change in the homecoming weekend schedule, the alumni Beer Garden, which normally takes place at the same time as the carnival, will happen prior to the football game.

    The past two years, ASCLUG has hosted a spring formal. The 2018 location was the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley. The year prior, the dance was held at Hummingbird Nest Ranch in Simi Valley. In 2016, ASCLUG had a spring concert featuring hip-hop artist Sage the Gemini. Students also voted on the performer of the spring concert.

    Dominick Grimm
    Reporter

    Editor’s Note: This article was updated Oct. 3 to reflect that the decision to not hold the homecoming carnival this fall was made by ASCLU Programs Board during spring semester in response to scheduling changes by Alumni and Family Relations.