Concert to Top Off Homecoming Activities

Besides the usual free cotton candy and T-shirts, students will also be treated to a live performance by the hip-hop group OutKast in celebration of this year's Homecoming week.

The concert will be the grand finale of Homecoming Jam 2000, a week of events and activities sponsored by the Carolina Athletic Association.

Organizers say the goal of the week is to rally students' school spirit with more events than ever before.

CAA President Tee Pruitt said he was very impressed with this year's Homecoming committee, the group that planned the week's schedule.

"(They) have planned the most extensive week of events I've seen since I've been here," Pruitt said.

The week's first event, the "Carnival Craze" held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Polk Place, drew a steady crowd of participants on Monday. Students tested their skills throwing footballs at a target, or donned protective headgear to battle their peers with foam-padded bats.

"I had an hour between classes, and this looked like fun," said Adam Shupe, a freshman waiting in line for the jousting station.

The festive spirit extends beyond Polk Place, with blue and white balloons tied all across campus. These decorations are part of Homecoming Committee Chairwoman Devyn Spence's effort to make this week more successful than it has been in previous years.

"We wanted to make it look like Homecoming around here," Spence said.

Student Congress only allocated $1,500 for CAA's Homecoming hype this year, partially because of poor turn-out in the past, Spence said. Her committee worked around this problem by co-sponsoring many of the week's events and thereby getting help for funding.

Spence listed the Black Student Movement, the Residence Hall Association and Masala among this year's co-sponsors.

Some of the week's events are annual traditions, such as Thursday night's comedy show. The elections for Mr. and Ms. UNC, another longstanding tradition, will be held Wednesday. The "Homecoming Extravaganza 2000" will take place Friday night, featuring a step show followed by an after-party.

But there are a lot of new touches, such as the pregame student tailgate party Saturday. The biggest new addition is Sunday night's "Killer Concert in Carmichael" which will be held at 7 p.m.

"We weren't going to do a little concert this year," Spence said. She said the committee worked closely with promoters to ensure they would bring a well-know headliner to the show and finally secured OutKast.

As of Monday night, Spence said 600 tickets had already been sold for the final event, and these sales occurred before any publicizing had been done on campus.

Pruitt said he was particularly pleased with the final event of the week.

"We finally got over the big hurdle of the showcase event," said Pruitt, referring to disappointing final events of past years. "We are ecstatic about it."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.