This year’s Homecoming and Family Weekend will be held from Friday, Oct. 29 to Sunday, Oct. 31. This weekend, the Office of Alumni and Family Relations will welcome alumni and family on campus for a weekend packed with fun events for the first time since 2019 while maintaining pandemic safety measures.
“Many of our new families have not been able to see the campus in person and we are grateful that we can offer this opportunity to see what life is like at Wesleyan,” Director of Special Events at the Office of Alumni and Parent Relations Deana Hutson wrote in an email to The Argus. “Our goal is to offer a safe experience for everyone.”
Throughout the planning process, the Office of Alumni and Family Relations has been following the advice of public health experts, as well as guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Connecticut Department of Public Health. Most events have been moved outside and all visitors will be asked to complete an attestation form confirming that they are vaccinated. Visitors will also be expected to follow the University’s Homecoming and Family Weekend COVID-19 safety requirements.
One of the biggest changes made for this year’s Homecoming and Family Weekend is that the University required registration by Oct. 27. The University also mandated that all attendees register separately, preferably with different email addresses.
The Office of Alumni and Family Relations has also planned out a schedule of activities which will include the Annual Parents’ Assembly with President Michael Roth ’78 (which will also be livestreamed), seven WESeminars on topics ranging from study abroad to filibuster reform, and the long-awaited homecoming football game. This year, the University is playing against Amherst on Oct. 30.
Though all events from Oct. 29 to Oct. 30 will be held in-person, there was still one online event held on Wednesday, Oct. 27: the 29th Annual Dwight L. Greene Symposium, presented by the Black Alumni Network and Alumni of Color Council. The symposium featured panelists Melinda Weekes-Laidlow ’89, Sadasia McCutchen ’17, Kenny Green ’98, Lucas Turner-Owens ’12, Shawn Dove ’84, and Oladoyin Oladapo ’14.
“In the midst of a national conversation about systemic racism and economic inequity, this 29th Dwight L. Greene Symposium will explore the topic of Black Entrepreneurship,” reads the University website’s Homecoming and Family Weekend page. “We’ll discuss financial and social capital, the power of creativity, and the specific strategies these alumni leaders use to build entrepreneurial ventures and ecosystems.”
Despite the challenges presented by COVID-19, Hutson emphasized that the University is happy to be able to embrace families and alumni in its community and to allow face-to-face interactions.
“We hope that families and alumni have a wonderful, yet safe and hospitable experience,” Hutson wrote. “We truly appreciate the flexibility and understanding of the entire Wesleyan community during these uncertain times.”
Kat Struhar can be reached at kstruhar@wesleyan.edu.