SpelHouse outdoes Emory – In My White Tee

AUC

Morehouse College and Spelman College are part of the Atlanta University Center Consortium (AUC), which comprises of one co-ed school, one all male school, and one all female school; Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, and Spelman College respectively. Each of the colleges in the AUC are also Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), meaning they have an overwhelmingly high black student population. Morehouse and Spelman celebrate their homecomings together in what is known as the “SpelHouse Homecoming” every year. They have events throughout the week, including a concert on Wednesday and a homecoming football game on Saturday.

Michael: I jumped out of my seat during film class as I received a text on my phone. The words “Travis Scott this Wednesday at Morehouse” made me ecstatic as I quickly flipped open my laptop and purchased a ticket. My favorite artist was performing in Atlanta and all my friends were coming with me. Two days later we found ourselves in a swarm of people 6,000 deep. We were pushed, shoved, and even cursed out as everyone made a mad rush to the door. The shouts of the security guards only made the crowd even more disorderly as students began to bang on the glass. “Move back! We need everyone to move back!”, but nobody was listening as the crowd of people slammed into the doors like a wave crashing into the shore. The reflection of red and blue police lights on the glass windows illuminated the excited faces of the crowd. The concert started at 8pm and it was already 9:30pm. Suddenly a scream was heard from the right side of the mob as multiple student were seen frantically wiping pepper spray from theirs eyes. With the fear that the chaos would only escalate, many AUC students began to disperse, but we were not ready to give up. Being one of the few white students in the crowd, some people were giving me dirty looks. They tried to tell me that I would be denied at the door because I was not an AUC student. I tried to tell them it was open to the public, but they refused to listen. Although I was frustrated by this, I understood their perspective as it was SpelHouse homecoming meant mostly for the AUC students. As I received these dirty looks from all angles, one Morehouse student named Hilliard took us under his wing and led our entire group to the doors. Once we finally made our way through security, we rushed into the gymnasium and found some great seats on the bleachers. Though we tried to find space on the floor, the gym was clearly reaching maximum capacity as it was extremely packed. After Travis’ expected late arrival, the concert began and the whole crowd went crazy.

Zion: My older sister Ashia is currently a Junior at Spelman College and this weekend happened to align perfectly for my family. Emory University and Spelman College both had their homecomings on the same weekend and this weekend was also parents weekend at Emory. Our mom decided to come down from Maryland to Atlanta and we got to spend the weekend together. On Saturday, my family and I attended the SpelHouse tailgate before Morehouse’s homecoming game later that day. The plan was for my sister to meet us over there, so my mom came and picked me up from Emory that morning. Trying to find parking was an absolute nightmare given the amount of people who showed up for the event. We ended having to pay $25 to park a few blocks down, but we were determined to have a good time. Once we finally arrived at the tailgate we were met with a huge crowd of people. There were families with children, current students, and alumni who had come back to visit. The air was filled with a sort of electric energy that I can’t quite describe. We quickly found my sister and she introduced us to some of her friends before disappearing again into the crowd. My mom and I didn’t stay long, however, as I had to get back to Emory for a track meet later that afternoon.

Since our blog comes from the perspective of two outsiders, we decided to interview Chris Moye, who has attended Morehouse homecomings all his life.

Tell me about your experiences at Morehouse homecomings when you were younger.

“My experiences at homecoming consisted of going to the tailgate before the football game, and meeting alumni. It was always one of the things that I looked forward to in the fall when I was growing up.”

What do you think about the Morehouse community and AUC?

“I love the Morehouse community and the AUC. I have dealt with many Morehouse men and members of the AUC since childhood, and I have yet to meet someone who makes me think negatively about Morehouse, or the AUC as a whole; Morehouse and the AUC as a whole is essentially a giant family.”

How have the homecomings changed since you were younger?

“The access that I have to certain homecoming events has changed as I have gotten older. In years past, there wasn’t as much corporate involvement in the Morehouse homecomings, but they are now hosted by large companies like Ford and Viacom.”

After attending both homecomings, there was a clear distinction between the two schools. Though the endowments of both universities are quite disparate, it was evident that Morehouse puts more effort and creativity into its homecoming compared to Emory. The energy at Morehouse was significantly greater as the community was extremely tight-knit and lively. Whether it was the thrill of the concert or the celebrations at the tailgate, we both realized that the AUC truly moves and acts as one big family. Traveling to Morehouse was more than just a change in environment, it was a change in spirit and morale. The school showed signs of unity and harmony that we never knew existed on campuses. After interviewing Chris it was clear that the AUC homecomings continue to grow as more money is put into events through sponsorships with large companies. Without a football team, we expected Emory to focus heavily on community events, but we realized that our school lacks one essential aspect of campus life: school spirit. It seems that nobody is excited about campus events unless it is required for PACE. Following our visits to Morehouse and Spelman, we both walked away with a newfound understanding about what campus culture truly should be. When talking to Zion’s sister, a current student at Spelman, she noted that at this year’s concert there was an unusually high number of people who did not attend one of the AUC schools. She also explained that while each school is its own entity, the level of school spirit is unparalleled to other schools. The AUC is much more than a community, it is a family, and to see people who aren’t part of that family at the events understandably rubbed some students the wrong way, but it truly shows the excitement it brings. The sight of thousands of students all coming together and celebrating the year was quite incredible and really inspired us to create this same community and awareness at Emory.