University of Utah

Nothing gets the crowds out more than a showdown between the Utah Utes and the BYU Cougars. Because Provo is only 40 minutes away from Salt Lake City, it's very easy for fans from both teams to attend games (football is the most popular in this regard, of course). The week preceding the game, expect a media bonanza, pranks, and lots of people wearing red (or blue, if they're pro-BYU). Folks at BYU plastic wrap all the statues on campus so U students don't come deface them (which we never do, anyway), and there's an annual competition to see which school can raise the most cans of food for the hungry. The U always wins this competition.

Every fall the theater department stages a dawn showing of a classic Greek play (typically “Oedipus the King”). A great show, if you don't mind waking up before the crack of dawn.

If there's a famine of campus traditions for most of the year, the U makes up for it during Homecoming Week. These traditions include a Greek House decorating contest, a “3 club” golf tournament, Songfest (a panoply of musical numbers and skits, in which, typically, only Greeks participate), a pre-game barbecue, Young Alumni 5K Run/Walk, a bonfire/pep rally (which usually includes cameos by the football head coach and Swoop, the U mascot), and the Homecoming dance—typically for Greeks, LDSSA, and international students.

The U has a nice Olympic legacy park just south of the stadium (where they let us keep the cauldron for the Olympic flame).

Every fall, the ASUU Presenter's Office holds a week-long music festival, with small-time bands playing for students on campus during the day and bigger bands playing for ticketed viewers during the night. It's one of the rare occasions during the year when you can say, this place actually feels like a college!