Green was not the only color students were supposed to wear this St. Patrick’s Day.
ASUU’s Rock the U celebration kicked off their week-long fundraiser Monday with the “Paint the Campus Purple” event, where students were asked to wear purple clothing in support of cancer awareness.
Sarah Vaughn, the event’s organizer, said the purpose is “to show students how to do something bigger than themselves.”
Students were encouraged to donate cash for the Huntsman Cancer Institute as well at an event advertised to be in the Library Plaza from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Monday. Because of weather conditions, the event was moved to the Union lobby. There was music, candy and poster-making, along with a place to donate cash and buy Rock the
U tickets.
“This is something that affects lots of people, so this is to show it is not just about you and your schoolwork,” said Janzell Tutor, an advisor in the ASUU office. “We encouraged purple because it’s the color that represents all cancer awareness.”
Vaughn said the day coinciding with St. Patrick’s Day was not planned.
“That’s just the day it landed on,” she said.
Tutor said the event was also difficult because students were just getting back from Spring Break.
“It is hard to get people to wear purple when they’re already worried about wearing green, especially the Monday coming [back],” Tutor said.
Most students had not heard about the event, and if they were wearing purple it was “on accident,” like Ali Hasan, a sophomore in electrical engineering, who had purple on his shirt.
“I’m too lazy to actually care,” he said. Alex Bingham, a freshman in physics, suggested that next year they should use actual paint for the event.
“It’s an awesome event and an awesome idea, but it seems like purple and green don’t really go together, so that probably should have been planned better,” Bingham said.
Rock the U events continue with the “I Dance For … ” event in the Union Ballroom this afternoon, as well as a UGurt benefit later in the night. Proceeds from the ASUU Lunchbox Concert Series on Wednesday will support Rock the U. On Thursday, the Rock the U dodgeball tournament will be played in HPER North. The main event, a 12-hour dance marathon, will be Friday night. There will be
food, activities and music in the Union Ballroom.
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