KU announces dates for Homecoming, Open House, Family Weekend, Band Day

LAWRENCE -- The University of Kansas today announced the dates for its three major fall semester celebrations: Homecoming Week, Open House and Family Weekend, and Band Day.

"We are very pleased that Homecoming Week can now take place Oct. 12 through 18, at a time that's ideal for students, alumni and the whole community," said Janet Murguia, executive vice chancellor for university relations.

A late and unavoidable change in KU's 2003 football schedule meant the Jayhawks' only home game between Sept. 27 and Nov. 8 would occur during the four-day fall break, when many students and faculty are not on campus. "We are grateful to the Board of Regents, as well as the University Council and Calendar Committee at KU, for shifting the dates of our fall break by one week, to Oct. 23 through 26," said Murguia.

Dates for this fall's special events are as follows:

 • Homecoming Week will begin Sunday, Oct. 12, and conclude Saturday, Oct. 18, with an afternoon home football game against the Baylor Bears.

 • Open House, first held at KU in 2001, will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 20, as part of Family Weekend. Saturday's events will include an evening home football game against the Jacksonville State Gamecocks and a performance of the musical "Fame" at 7:30 p.m. at the Lied Center of Kansas.

 • KU's 56th annual Band Day will take place Saturday, Sept. 6. A parade in downtown Lawrence will feature the Marching Jayhawks and a number of local high school bands. The combined bands also will perform at halftime during that evening's home football game against the University of Nevada-Las Vegas Rebels.

Along with Richard Johnson, dean of students and associate vice provost for student support, Murguia chairs the Special Events Committee, a new group formed to oversee a variety of celebrations and activities at KU.

"Our goal is to better coordinate the teams of staff and students who work on each of these events," said Murguia. "We want to make the best use of their time and resources. Special events are an opportunity for KU to open our doors and tell our story, and we look forward to doing an even better job of that with this new structure."

More information about each event will be available as the date approaches, said Murguia.