It’s time for Homecoming at Binghamton University, an exciting event for plenty of students and alumni.

For many current students, however, these campus celebrations will go right over their heads. Instead of buzzing with talk of sporting events, tailgating or fireworks, the first weekend of October will feel just like any other for much of the student body. In fact, many of these students won’t show face at any sports games throughout the semester to cheer Binghamton on, and they might brush off routine on-campus events as corny or lame — no matter how much free food might be up for grabs.

At many other universities, this isn’t the case — sports games bring people together, and homecoming is good old-fashioned fun, highly anticipated by much of the student population. So, why doesn’t Binghamton have a strong culture around school spirit?

As a public university with just under 15,000 students and Division I athletics, we’re not so different from other medium to large state schools that boast their pride as a selling point, drawing in students looking to get a good education at a school they will be proud to represent for life. But Binghamton tends to position itself with a strong academic focus instead. This is a good thing — we’re a relatively competitive, R1 research institution, and we’ve continually had the lowest acceptance rates and highest graduation rates among all SUNY campuses. Not to mention the “public Ivy” Forbes article designation from a few years back that we’ve all heard parroted countless times.

However, college life is all about balance, right? And Binghamton students know how to party — so why do we lack that kind of rowdy, impassioned pride for our school?

Here’s the thing about college sports: Binghamton, like around 100 other schools in Division I, notably lacks a varsity football team. And college football, of course, is the center of collegiate pride for lots of universities. Even at colleges with teams that — putting it nicely — aren’t winning too many of those games, and even for those who couldn’t recognize a football play if it happened in slow motion (e.g., the author of this article), football games are exciting for many just for the sake of getting together with friends, dressing up in your university colors and cheering on your school.

So, is Binghamton really doomed by its lack of a football team? I don’t think it should be. The plethora of varsity athletics teams Binghamton does offer generally perform well. That’s without mentioning that plenty of schools’ “main sport” that generates pride and excitement isn’t football at all. At universities like Syracuse and UConn, for example, students care about their basketball teams, and colleges in Boston seem to focus on hockey.

The problem lies in the fact that the general student body is removed from those in athletics programs and doesn’t seem to know or care about our teams. Games are sparsely attended, and you’d be hard-pressed to find students on campus cheering on teams, except those close to an athlete. Of course, it’s important to mention that Binghamton’s sports are also situated outside the Big Ten Conference and similar sports leagues, which is a major contributor to the lack of buzz around them. This is pretty consistent across all the teams within the America East Conference, but should it really doom us to this indifference?

The primary issue, I think, lies in tone and tradition. My older brother went to the University of Pittsburgh, and even I’ve heard about their tradition of playing Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” during football games. Nearly every university with a united, prideful student body has some kind of gimmicky tradition, be it a special chant, event or superstition, for them to very spiritedly tell you about during prospective student tours or orientation. Students have spread these by word-of-mouth for years and years, creating positive memories and associations that begin to take shape into a kind of student identity. They create the kinds of people who just love to tell you about their alma mater, who want to cheer on sports teams and keep a university logo bumper sticker on their car long after graduation.

All this isn’t to say we shouldn’t be proud to be Binghamton students. Quite the opposite, actually. We worked hard to get here, and we certainly work hard here, in all sorts of academics and extracurriculars. We just need to unify that spirit, something that is partially up to the students, but also to the University.

Binghamton does its best to communicate about sports games, meets and other exciting extracurricular events, but it’s simply not enough to get the general student body to care. And sports certainly aren’t the only option. Binghamton students have an incredibly diverse set of interests that they’re passionate about, and campus events could benefit from more hype too — especially if Binghamton is suited to a more practical, academic crowd.

Perhaps emphasizing signature traditions that start as early as orientation could help, or a change in branding. Social media is also a great tool to communicate to students and get them excited about what’s happening on campus.

Either way, it’s time for an extra nudge in the right direction for Binghamton pride.

Megan Buchovecky is a sophomore majoring in philosophy, politics and law.

Views expressed in the opinions pages represent the opinions of the columnists. The only piece that represents the view of the Pipe Dream Editorial Board is the Staff Editorial.