By Sean Garner

Campus Editor

At a time when schools all over the country were getting revved up in anticipation of their homecoming football games, Oakland University, with no football team, tried to find a way to generate school spirit.

The Week of Champions at Oakland University was last week featuring a series of activities leading up to Midnite Madnezz, the official beginning of the men’s and women’s basketball seasons.

The festivities began Monday with the Matilda Wilson “Rock On” Birthday Bash, and included a “Guitar Hero” competition and a meet-and-greet session with OU varsity athletes.

Samir Hanna, a student liaison to the OU board of trustees, said he has tried to attend as many WOCOU events as he can during each of his four years at OU.

Hanna said the participation for this year’s WOCOU was better than it had been in past years. He said he thinks having more people involved makes OU a more fun place to be.

“It really builds up the community here at Oakland,” Hanna said. “It’s something that is vital to our campus, because it just helps us build up so much school spirit.”

Jean Szura, assistant director of student activities and member of the WOCOU committee, agreed that this year’s festivities had greater participation than in the past.

“All of the daytime events went over really well,” Szura said. “We saw tons of students, lots of new faces.”

Szura added a number of events new to WOCOU, like the “Guitar Hero” contest and Wednesday’s “The Main Event” Talent Show, made the week even more exciting.

“Even some of our newer events that people put on had great participation,” She said. “Battle of the OU Stars had a terrific turnout, and of course, Midnite Madnezz and the laser show were both excellent.”

There were several events throughout the week where students had the opportunity to grab free food and merchandise. During “Electric Avenue” on Thursday afternoon, a disk jockey played music while students ate walking tacos. Szura admits the free stuff might have enticed students to the events.

“Who doesn’t love something for free?” Szura jokingly asked. “The food always gets eaten, and the T-shirts are always a big hit. In fact, when I was walking out today I saw a ton of people wearing the shirts we were giving away.”