With FAMU’s homecoming less than six weeks away, the anticipation for homecoming festivities has increased. However, with COVID cases continuing at an alarming rate, those who are planning to attend are starting to worry because other HBCUs have decided not to celebrate homecoming for a second straight year.
Spelman and Morehouse, neighboring HBCUs in Atlanta, have announced that they are cancelling their homecoming this fall —and other HBCUs are starting to follow suit. North Carolina A&T has also canceled its homecoming.
Although FAMU recommends masks and COVID-19 precautions, homecoming usually draws a large crowd to Tallahassee.
SGA president, Carrington Whigham discussed the steps she is taking to ensure that homecoming will take place.
“The proper planning I’m doing to prepare just in case is making sure that we continue to get students vaccinated,” Whigham said. “I feel like that is the one thing that we can do because what happens is the unvaccinated spread it to the vaccinated a whole lot easier so that is why the Delta variant is spreading so easily.”
North Carolina A&T student Lauryn Dunson said she is disappointment that she won’t be able to enjoy the traditional GHOE (Greatest Homecoming on Earth).
“I was definitely looking forward to the festivities that are a part of the GHOE culture,” Dunson said. “I specifically was looking forward to the many food trucks that are a part of homecoming. I am really disappointed that homecoming will not be the same.”
As of September, the COVID cases has reached close to 46,000 in the Leon County area and over 400 deaths. In the state of Florida there have been more than 3 million cases with more than 49,000 deaths.
Spelman College student Chioma Ezumezu believes her school made the right call when it canceled homecoming.
“I hate to admit it, but I honestly think it was the right decision,” Ezumezu said. “The turnout for our events is massive and I don’t see how they would’ve been able to contain so many people and implement COVID precautions. However, I feel like there isn’t that big event that’s going to bring unity in like homecoming did.”
With the COVID cases continuing at an alarming rate, some FAMU students are staring to ask if homecoming is the best decision for the university’s students both unvaccinated and vaccinated.
For more updates on homecoming and what steps the university is taking to combat COVID-19, visit famu.edu.