Hamilton’s Black and Latinx Student Union (BLSU) hosted BLSU Homecoming this past Friday, where students enjoyed food trucks, bake sales, contests and other fun activities, such as pieing classmates and participating in a dance battle. Student advocacy groups such as the Feminists of Color Collective (FCC), Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) and La Vanguardia (LV), as well as the acapella group The Hamiltones, and the hip hop and dance team, HEAT all helped organize the event along with the BLSU. A couple of these student advocacy groups held stands at the event, as well. SJP hosted a bake sale raising money for Palestinian efforts in Gaza, and the FCC handed out pride flags for students to express themselves and their allyship with other members of the community. These groups also used their stands to answer questions from those unfamiliar with the variety of Hamilton’s student cultural organizations. The men’s baseball team also set up shop, hosting a competition to raise money for hurricane relief and Special Olympics. Students purchased tickets to throw their hardest fastball into a net, hoping their speed would deem them worthy of pieing a baseball player. Although there was plenty of clean-up involved, the team was happy to have raised money for good causes.
BLSU and the other advocacy groups also ensured that there was a wide variety of food at the event. The homecoming featured a Savage Eats food truck grilling hamburgers and cheeseburgers, a falafel stand selling dessert and a lemonade stand to wash it all down. This did not distract students from the array of baked goods being sold by the SJP.
Those who were not too full jumped in the bounce house on the lawn outside of the Little Pub. The bounce house was not kept as busy as the food stands were; this and the long lines for each stand suggested that BLSU did a fantastic job assembling the homecoming’s food menu.
Suddenly, however, a fight broke out between members of the Delta Chi (DX) fraternity and members of the HEAT dance team. It was a dance battle. Students gathered around to watch the groups settle their beef, if you will. There seemed to have been some technical difficulties with DX’s background music throughout the performance, but this only added to the entertainment. The cheers from the crowd suggested that both groups put on quite the show. While throughout the performance, both corners displayed mutual respect for one another, it is unclear whether or not they have properly ended their conflict. Fortunately, there is always next year.
Students of all ethnic and cultural backgrounds came and spent the night celebrating diversity and change on campus, and their support for these student advocacy groups represents student allyship and inclusivity within Hamilton’s diverse student body. Hamilton’s student cultural organizations continue to exercise community outreach and provide spaces for students to express themselves and their diverse identities. BLSU Homecoming provided a place for students to express their culture, raise awareness and engage in fun competition.
