At its meeting Tuesday night, the Duke University Union outlined ideas to reinvent Joe College Day as a celebration of the first week of classes.
Sophomore Nathan Nye, Joe College Day programming chair, said event attendance has been steadily declining in recent years. Nye attributed the event’s lack of popularity to an unappealing lineup of bands and a minimal level of marketing.
“The big reasons I heard for why people didn’t come [this year] are they didn’t like the music, had a midterm or were going out that night to party,” Nye said.
Nye proposed moving Joe College Day to the first week of classes to attract a larger crowd. He said renaming Joe College Day may also help better market the event to students but added that he wants the event to retain a “mellow, laid back” feel. He also suggested allowing larger student groups to set up tents at the event.
The artists this year were chosen after a long artist selection process. Cute is What We Aim For—the headlining band for this year’s Joe College Day—was meant to be “reminiscent” of middle school for Duke students, Nye said. Typically chosen artists are edgy and on the rise, but Nye said this year’s headliner was not ideal according to these criteria.
“We want to [choose artists] that people can sing along to more,” Nye said.
Vice President of Internal Affairs Elliot Johnson, a senior, said timing also significantly affected the success of this year’s Joe College Day.
“There was nothing we could do about it this year because it was football game, football game, homecoming,” Johnson said. “Nobody can compete when we play Alabama.”
This year, Joe College Day featured a beer garden, which allowed students 21 and older to sample three local beers for free and purchase two additional beers on food points. DUU members agreed that the beer garden setup was “alienating” to the majority of students.
Duke Student Broadcasting President Maddie Burke, a senior, said changing the feel of Joe College Day to something similar to LDOC may increase the event’s success.
“I think a more LDOC model of this as a big social event, seeing your friends and interacting with music playing,” Burke said. “That could change the mission [of Joe College Day].”
In other business:
Freddie Gibbs is opening for Matisyahu Nov. 17 in Page Auditorium. Tickets go on sale for students and employees Nov. 2.
Innovations Committee Chair Dustin Gamza, a senior, said the Duke Laser Tag tournament is scheduled for this Saturday, Oct. 30. He said hundreds of people have already signed up and more are anticipated to register the day of the tournament. Equipment ranging from laser guns to grenades have already been rented.
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