Show your colors

Christian Aniciete, a former candidate for student body president at Portland State, said he feels that university students need to unite under a single banner.

Or, in this case, clothing.

Aniciete is rallying behind School Colors Friday, a new statewide campaign organized by Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski. The campaign, which encourages university faculty, students and staff to wear their school colors every Friday, has already gained the official support of Oregon State, University of Oregon and PSU.

However, Aniciete said it has been a struggle to get such a diverse student body to unify under Portland State’s school colors, green and black.

After receiving the idea for the campaign from PSU’s communication department, Aniciete said he was given the opportunity to fulfill a goal he has had since last year’s campaign for student body president.

PSU’s diversity is “very much” a challenge to uniting its students under the Vikings banner, Aniciete said.

However, getting students to wear school colors on Fridays throughout the academic year is just only part of that challenge.

“It’s not just about the colors,” said Aniciete, referring to his former campaign’s goal to unite a diversified campus.

Aside from fostering school spirit, Aniciete said the other goal of School Colors Friday is to establish more of a sense of tradition at a university that has historically been regarded as a commuter school.

“We want the freshman to have something to come back to,” Aniciete said.

College Color Fridays offers PSU students a chance to express the pride they have in their university’s accomplishments–not just in athletics, but academics, research and its growing commitment to a sustainable campus, Aniciete said.

Although PSU’s welcome week for new and retuning students includes events such as Party in the Park and the Midnight Breakfast, the notion that more can be done to unify campus is strong, Aniciete said.

WHAT STUDENTS THINK:

“I came here to wear what I want.”-Ayman Abduljabbar, graphic design major

“I think there are other ways to show pride than wearing colors.”-Bri Surin

“I don’t think they should try to enforce a dress code.”-Kat Charnay, psychology major

“I don’t live on campus, so it’s not that big of a deal to me.”-Jay Coolman

“It sounds like a good idea but I’m not sure many people will do it.”-Andy Williams, history major