We have all been through high school, which means we have all been through the week-long events of homecoming, where the only thing on people’s minds is who is going to get crowned king and queen. The emotions that are flying during this week are of a wide variety – annoyance, anger, jealousy, and anything else you can think of. This is exactly why we all decided to go to college: to get away from the pettiness in high school. Why, then, is Hamline bringing back a pointless tradition – homecoming king and queen? It is a regressive competition, especially in today’s age, when all we want is to be equal with one another. By electing two people as king and queen, who are not different than the rest of us, onto a pedestal and giving them each a crown we are essentially saying, “We think that you are better than us!” We are going back into a time when certain people were deemed more important than others. The idea of homecoming court also intensifies the conflict between the populars versus the not-so-populars. During high school, homecoming court was always a popularity contest, and by bringing it to college, we are bringing that same ideology to our campus. By reaffirming the idea that those who are popular are better than those who are not, we automatically heighten the populars’ confidence that they are better than anyone else and we put down those who might not have as many friends.

Not only is it a regression in our Hamline community, but it is also a pointless activity. There are already so many events going on around campus that everyone has an opportunity to participate in more events than they can count on two hands. We are all pretty busy, with classes, different organizations, the jobs we take on and social lives, and having another thing to worry about is something that nobody wants. Along with this, everyone knows that this is just going to end up being another one of the hundred emails that Hamline students receive weekly. It will come from a student organization, with a peppy subject line and some kind of “enticing” first sentence that will get us to read the rest of the email. But in reality, we all know that some, if not most, will just delete the email, solely because they are too busy with their lives. These people who do not end up answering the email or voting already have a pretty good idea of who is going to win. They know that voting is futile, because a select few are bound to win. This assumption is rarely incorrect, as well. It is drawing a very thick social line between communities. Is this something we want to encourage and stand behind on our campus?

Now, is this an exaggeration of a cute tradition that praises people for being involved in their community? Possibly. The point being made here, however, is that everything starts off small.