MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Changes West Virginia University is making to its opening weekend including moving the popular FallFest to Sunday night instead of Monday night.
“We wanted to move it to Sunday to get it off of the first night of classes,” WVU Associate Vice President and Dean of Students Corey Farris said. “We got a couple of other things to lead up to FallFest.”
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FallFest was created nearly 20 years ago as an alternative for students instead of the unsanctioned Grant Ave. Block Party. The patience exercised by WVU and Morgantown police with that unsanctioned event ran out when one of the party goers was shot.
FallFest, free concerts on the Mountainlair Plaza, is now a great welcome back tradition, Farris said.
“It’s a great squeal factor as students come back, haven’t seen each other all summer long and they scream and jump at each other and are just thrilled to see each other,” Farris said.
The fall semester will also serve as a test for Greek life at WVU. Last year, several national chapters ended their relationships with WVU students because of problems associated with drinking. WVU freshman Nolan Burch died of alcohol poisoning following a frat initiation. Things will change, Farris predicted.
“We’ve done a whole lot of work with our Greek community, we’ve got a new Greek leader, the director of Greek Programs, who is going to wake up every single day thinking about Greek life,” Farris said. “It was a handful of students who created some issues for us and I think our students stepped up to the plate at the end of last year and they will continue to step up. I think we’ll have a great year.”
WVU placed a moratorium on Greek activities for several weeks last year because of the problems.