Greatest Homecoming on Earth?

Drama Derails #GHOE Plans 

Amber Williams | Correspondent

Every year, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (A&T) hosts the so-called Greatest Homecoming on Earth (GHOE). With the increasing amount of violence and attendees every year, this event has become one of the most controversial university held functions in North Carolina.  The homecoming football game is the supposed to be the climax of the weekend, but most people are only concerned with all of the foolishness outside of the game.

Year after year, we find ourselves talking more about the unflattering photos of drunken people, shootings, and senseless fighting tha

n the actual homecoming events. One would think that since so many influential figures graduated from A&T that the current students’ behaviors would match the university’s prestigious legacy. But from the looks of the past homecomings, GHOE is simply “hip-hop thugs” making their debute.

Today when people think of “turning up” at homecoming the images that instantly come to mind are drinking, smoking, and partying. How do these activities equate to a “Greatest Homecoming on Earth,” considering the negative elements? Many students continue to write off these aspects as a normal part of the GHOE experience.

During this year’s GHOE celebration, a young man was shot while attending the homecoming festivities. A&T is a “gun-free” zone and many people are angered by the fact that this makes the second consecutive shooting on or near A&T’s campus during homecoming. Some students are so fed up with the continued violence at GHOE that they decided to forgo all festivities.

Rashad Lyons, a sophomore at East Carolina University said, “I was planning to go, but with the course of events that were scheduled to happen it would have put me at risk of being shot or arrested than if I were to remain where I was for the weekend.” Lyons and many others, find that the risks simply outweigh the benefits of attending GHOE.

Kimberly Watson, an A&T alum, was asked to define GHOE on her blog, Lovelye Spirit, stating “North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University is one of the top Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the nation. Every year we host our annual Homecoming, which in short is a reunion for the current students and alumni. Our Homecoming is celebrated throughout the community and the state of North Carolina. It’s not just for A&T students and alumni but it has become an experience that has impacted the entire city.”

GHOE is not what A&T represents if you really think about it. Homecomings are supposed to be about both the alumni and the current student body coming together to fellowship, not in dissimilation, but celebration.