Beach Weekend back this April
By: Michael Bargar
Issue date: 2/12/10 Section: News
On the weekend of April 23, the over forty-year-old Furman tradition of Beach Weekend will return after a one-year hiatus.
Beach Weekend is an unofficial, unsanctioned, student-led event that has traditionally taken place Mother's Day weekend in May. During the weekend, fraternities and other major campus organizations plan for their members and friends to go to Myrtle Beach by renting places to stay, hiring bands and organizing parties.
"It's always been a hidden gem of the Furman experience," said Jake Ogle, the former President of the Inter-Fraternity Council.
Although Beach Weekend is inclusive of all Furman students, IFC has traditionally taken a leading role by deciding its date. This posed a big problem when the new academic calendar in 2008-2009 ended the school year a month earlier than in the past and Beach Weekend's customary date conflicted with graduation.
Ogle said the main reason Beach Weekend didn't occur last year was because the schedule change eliminated the month of May from spring term.
"We couldn't find a good time to do it," he said. IFC didn't want to hold Beach Weekend during a fraternity or sorority formal or other event, and the resulting scheduling challenge proved insurmountable.
IFC, which consists of the presidents of Furman's six fraternities and an executive council of three elected members from the Greek community, kept this experience in mind when coordinating this year's schedules. Ogle said that the decision was made in early fall to make time for Beach Weekend. The agreed-upon weekend is April 23-25, which is the weekend before final exams.
Ogle said there was a concern that Beach Weekend might fade away if it were not brought back this year. If it did end, it would mark the end of a tradition that began in 1968.
Benny Walker, the Special Assistant to the President of Furman, said in an email that prior to that year the fraternities went to the mountains for one night for their "spring fling." As the president of Tau Kappa Epsilon, he asked permission from the dean to have two nights so that his fraternity could go to the beach. After no one was arrested, everyone else copied them the following year.
Beach Weekend is an unofficial, unsanctioned, student-led event that has traditionally taken place Mother's Day weekend in May. During the weekend, fraternities and other major campus organizations plan for their members and friends to go to Myrtle Beach by renting places to stay, hiring bands and organizing parties.
"It's always been a hidden gem of the Furman experience," said Jake Ogle, the former President of the Inter-Fraternity Council.
Although Beach Weekend is inclusive of all Furman students, IFC has traditionally taken a leading role by deciding its date. This posed a big problem when the new academic calendar in 2008-2009 ended the school year a month earlier than in the past and Beach Weekend's customary date conflicted with graduation.
Ogle said the main reason Beach Weekend didn't occur last year was because the schedule change eliminated the month of May from spring term.
"We couldn't find a good time to do it," he said. IFC didn't want to hold Beach Weekend during a fraternity or sorority formal or other event, and the resulting scheduling challenge proved insurmountable.
IFC, which consists of the presidents of Furman's six fraternities and an executive council of three elected members from the Greek community, kept this experience in mind when coordinating this year's schedules. Ogle said that the decision was made in early fall to make time for Beach Weekend. The agreed-upon weekend is April 23-25, which is the weekend before final exams.
Ogle said there was a concern that Beach Weekend might fade away if it were not brought back this year. If it did end, it would mark the end of a tradition that began in 1968.
Benny Walker, the Special Assistant to the President of Furman, said in an email that prior to that year the fraternities went to the mountains for one night for their "spring fling." As the president of Tau Kappa Epsilon, he asked permission from the dean to have two nights so that his fraternity could go to the beach. After no one was arrested, everyone else copied them the following year.