This year’s Homecoming at UNC Asheville culminated in the crowning of an all-male homecoming family. This result surprised many students, considering the even split of male and female candidates nominated.
“The democratic process worked out how it did and I guess that’s just how the cookie crumbled in this scenario,” said Liv Barefoot, student government association president and nominee for Homecoming family.
Throughout UNCA’s Homecoming, which lasted from Feb. 12 to Feb. 16, the six nominees of the Homecoming Court campaigned and rallied students to vote for them to make it to the Homecoming family.
Associate Director for Student Involvement in Campus Life Anna Clare Jackson said 402 students voted in this year’s Homecoming court.
When votes were tallied, Owen James, Marcos Matinez and Obianko Osaro formed an all-male homecoming family.
“One of the things I love about Homecoming court is that the voting is in the hands of the students. Think about how SGA elections run, it’s up to the president, vice president candidates to promote themselves, to table, to campaign, and then it’s up to the student body to vote,” Jackson said.
During an extensive interview process, the juniors and seniors running for Homecoming family are questioned across four main areas: leadership, academic achievement, bulldog pride and service. Jackson said the top six students are scored and selected to be a part of the homecoming court.
This year, the homecoming court members selected after the interview process were Liv Barefoot, Sarah Booth, Arizona Hall, Owen James, Marcos Martinez and Obianko Osaro.
Jackson said part of her job is to ensure that campaigning amongst the court is equitable and fair.
“Students are allowed to campaign through social media and then they can campaign through giving out some printed flyers that I have to approve and that I print for them. The reason for those being the only two avenues of campaigning is to keep the playing field as even as possible. For instance, I don’t want a student going and paying $300 for a professionally made banner to put up compared to somebody who may not be able to afford it,” Jackson said.
With posters printed and sashes adorned, the homecoming court campaigned, hoping to make it to the Homecoming Family on Saturday.
“Overall, I would say, like between the interview process, the selection process I can’t necessarily speak to since thats more behind the scenes but from all accounts that I’ve seen it seemed really equitable and fair as far as who they choose,” Barefoot said.
Owen James, a member of the Homecoming Family, said, “I had a lot of fun, and I thought it was really nice to see my fellow court members campaign and kind of get it to show their love for the school and for their classmates. I was definitely inspired by all the things they did.”
After campaigning, the student body votes open online for the last half of homecoming week.
“It opens up for almost three days and then we announce the winner of the homecoming royal court which is three winners,” Jackson said.
While the vote is open to every current student, Percy Pinnix, a senior at UNCA, said this year’s voting process was different from previous years.
“In every year prior we could pick two winners, so I just assumed we could do the same. I picked two people but I guess only one person was voted for so that wasn’t really clear,” Pinnix said.
The voting process is not the only change the homecoming court process has undergone in recent years.
Jackson said the process used to involve crowning a homecoming king and queen, but after student feedback, they changed to less gendered terms that focused more on inclusion.
The 2024 Homecoming Court consisted of two women, Parker Lacewell and Cayla Ritchey, and one man, Yafet Habtemariam. Before that, the 2023 homecoming Court was all women.
Despite this pivot towards inclusion, this year’s vote surprised even the winners.
“My reaction was definitely ‘surprise’ because when you have six members and three of them are male and those three win, the results are definitely very skewed onto one side of that spectrum. As to the reasons why or the processes to cause that to happen I have no idea. I have no idea who voted for who and how many votes were for each person. I think it was definitely surprising,” James said.
The official distribution of the votes is not publicly known at this time.
“I think it’ll be interesting to know what the vote distribution was but I also know that that could be not hurtful, I don’t know if is the right word, but make some people feel like their win didn’t matter as much if it was down to the wire,” Barefoot said.
James said it wasn’t any one thing that contributed to his crowning in the Homecoming family but a combination of many small things that led to his win.
“Hopefully, people see me as a likable person, someone who makes them feel valued and appreciated. If they did want to vote for me and that was something that they were moved to do, then I’m really grateful that I happen to make them feel that way”, James said.
Other Homecoming court members show gratitude to those who voted for them.
“The number of people who reached out to me throughout the week just offering me words of support, saying that they voted for me, even the people who I don’t know necessarily who voted for me, it still means a lot,” Barefoot said.
