Syracuse University will announce its SU Showcase programming – including a breakfast, triathlon and band performance – at a 1 p.m. event today in the Panasci Lounge of the Schine Student Center.

Many of the day’s events, formerly called MayFest, focus on sustainability concerns. Organizers hope to find a well-known band with an environmental focus, to present a keynote speech and performance on the Quad, said Kathleen Hopkins, director of Hill Communications and a junior public relations major.

They had been working with Guster, an acoustic-pop band, but the plan fell through because of scheduling conflicts, Hopkins said.

‘There’s a misconception that it’s a day off and a day to party, when the reality is, SU Showcase is a day for the university to come together and appreciate what their fellow classmates have been working so hard on all year,’ Hopkins said.

Hopkins said organizers are trying to disprove the cliché that the day is simply a large-scale science fair. Those academic presentations will still take place, Hopkins said, but they will probably be moved out of the Carrier Dome.

The day, scheduled for April 21, will include a triathlon with a sports focus, and art and academic trivia components. Other events are a sustainability showcase in Maxwell Auditorium, a teach-in on climate change and an evening performance by campus dance clubs.

‘First and foremost, we want students to have fun and enjoy the day,’ Hopkins said. ‘We don’t want it to be something they’re dragged to or forced to go to.’

SU renamed MayFest this year, in an effort to distance the university holiday from the Euclid Avenue parties. The day of cancelled classes was first held in May of 2005, moved to April in 2006 and gained its party reputation in 2007. Last year, 36 houses along Euclid Avenue hosted more than 2,500 students.

Approximately 40 students attended a ‘Save MayFest’ forum hosted by the Student Association Thursday. Some students who attended the meeting discussed their concerns that the tradition of MayFest is being thrown away. Representatives from Hill Communications stressed that the new events are not meant to undermine the tradition.

Robert Enslin, communications manager for The College of Arts and Sciences at SU, said student participation has skyrocketed this year, as compared to years past.

‘I already feel there is a groundswell of interest among students that really hasn’t existed before,’ Enslin said. ‘It’s a matter of striking the right formula of programming.’

Enslin said that while he doesn’t agree with the perception that the event is nothing more than a day off, he acknowledges that it happens.

The planning process for this year started earlier than in previous years – meetings began in late summer. It’s been refreshing to work with students, Enslin said.

‘I felt like with the last couple of events, while they were good, it was really kind of the same group of faculty and staff working on it,’ he said. ‘I think if we didn’t start thinking outside the box, we were in danger of becoming a dinosaur. If we didn’t change the way we present it, it really could have run out of gas by a certain point.’

Enslin started working at SU in the summer of 2004, and he remembers having the first MayFest conversation that fall. The concept came from a small group of students and faculty members, and the first event took a year to plan.

‘Compared to years past, it’s already a lot more student-friendly,’ Enslin said. ‘It is our hope that this is a day to showcase what we, as a university, do well.’

shmelike@syr.edu

Published on February 17, 2009 at 12:00 pm