Alumni, students and athletes gather at URI’s sports complex to celebrate homecoming weekend. PHOTO CREDITS: Nora Kelley | Photo Editor & Emma Roberts | Staff Photographer
The University of Rhode Island welcomed back alumni this weekend for a 50th reunion celebration for the class of 1975, as a part of annual homecoming events.
URI’s homecoming celebration is full of traditions, including the Rhodyville block party, a football game, classes and barbecue cookouts. This year’s cookout took place in President Marc Parlange’s front yard in South Kingstown.
For Michelle ’76, the event brought back an appreciation of the beauty of the campus.
“I loved the quad, I thought it was beautiful,” said Michelle. “It’s where we gathered and where the traditional stuff was done. It would be very nice if they continued that tradition.”
The reunion reminded Harry Howard ’75, a geology major, of his wild side.
“I think we had a very close class, everybody would go to anybody’s party.” Howard said. “Even if you only knew one person, that was your ticket in and you were able to meet a whole bunch of people.”
In 1970, Rhode Island lowered the drinking age from 21 to 18. The university ran a bar in the Memorial Union, where the murals are located on the ground floor. It now houses the campus bookstore.
The craziness didn’t stop at parties, according to alumni. In mid-October of the early 1970’s there was an annual food fight in Butterfield Dining Hall lasting five years before being shut down. Students would scoop heaps of food onto their trays.
“I worked at the dining hall at the time … all of a sudden one person would throw one roll across the dining hall and the whole [fight] would start,” Mary ’75 said.
At the food fight, students would dive under tables and trays, and plates would fly.
“You’d be covered from head to toe with food,” Mary said.
As much as homecoming was about connecting the past and seeing old friends, it’s also about including the future and how students today carry on traditions, according to alumni.
Joseph Lombardo ’75, a natural resources and community planning major,
said students are much more involved today. Dinner with the president was filled with students, whether they were working or just volunteering.
“[Students are] engaged with everybody here talking about their experiences and listening to some of the interviews,” Lombardo said.
However, connections aren’t just made by attending formal events, according to Howard. Some are created from the start – like in a dorm room and being one of the only students with a television.
“The whole floor … about 20 people would jam into Joe’s room watching ‘The Three Stooges’ and just laughing,” Howard said. “And when it was over the whole gang would go and get dinner.”
Homecoming weekend brought together alumni and students through tradition as they remember where it all began.
“I had it good with these guys,” Howard said.
