Student representatives from the three residence hall associations are working to form a team to increase involvement of dorm residents in Homecoming activities. “We want to make Homecoming what it should be – a nonexclusive, campus-wide event,” said Andy Walling, president of the Richardson Court Association. Each year, greek houses are grouped to form competition teams. The teams participate in contests such as window painting, lawn display competition and tournaments and cumulative points are kept for the week. Until this year, no students who were not affiliated with the greek system competed in the events. Walling, sophomore in pre-business, said the response to the residence halls team has been overwhelming, and the size of the team is growing with each meeting. Hall directors, resident advisers and cabinet members pledged their support early on to Walling’s word-of-mouth campaign that began as soon as he returned to campus this fall. “We’re going for about 200 participants, about what a greek pairing would be,” Walling said. He said he anticipates around 90 people will attend the next meeting. “We’re definitely going to have enough people to compete, to participate and have fun,” he said. Four general co-chairs, including Walling, have been selected to set up and run the events for the team. The team members will be able to participate in all the homecoming festivities except the lawn display competition. The terms and conditions of ISU residence halls do not allow any permanent structures on university property. The group will be allowed to participate in philanthropy events to make up for lost points. “We’re ready to compete and give an honest effort,” Walling said. “We want to be taken seriously.” Homecoming General Co-chair Michael Morman said he is happy to hear about this team. “One of the goals of the Homecoming Committee this year was to open up the event to Iowa State as a whole, instead of so much a greek function,” said Morman, senior in architecture. Morman said the greek houses should welcome the competition. The number of participants in pairings of three or four sororities or fraternities ranges from 90 to 200. This will give equal opportunities to Walling’s estimated size of his group. Jenny Larson, general co-chair of the team, said she sees no reason why the group can’t be competitive in each of the activities. So many students have wanted to become involved and haven’t been able to, said Larson, sophomore in genetics, and this their opportunity to become involved in “a really big way.” “We have received a fairly good turn-out and have quite a few freshmen,” she said. “Hopefully they will be able to keep this going as a tradition and be able to lead the group in the future.” Homecoming festivities kick off next week with the fall blood drive, and Walling said the drive will receive a turnout from the residence team. “The support is definitely going to grow,” he said. “Now we just need people to enjoy Homecoming as it is designed.”