The Office of Alumni Relations has announced that there will be some changes to Homecoming this fall and that the Undergraduate Alumni Council (UAC) has chosen a Homecoming theme of “Carnicus Returnicus.”

Director of Alumni Relations Charley Deal has said that this fall there will not be any Homecoming floats. This decision comes after Deal and others recognized that there has been a continual decline in the quality of floats and a decrease in the audience participation in the parade itself. Deal also noted that organizations on campus were spending as much as $2,000 per float.

Deal says that instead of the parade, there will be more emphasis put on Quad City. Quad City began last fall and was a gathering of many of the UTM departments and organizations in their own tent placed in the campus quadrangle. Student organizations including fraternities and sororities will be judged on their tent this fall instead of the float. Deal says the organizations will be judged on originality and specifically their ability to captivate the Homecoming theme of “Carnicus Returnicus.”

University Center Director Steve Vantrease submitted the proposed theme of “Carnicus Returnicus” to Deal and the UAC and says that he is surprised, but honored, that it was chosen.

“I sent that to Charley just sort of as a tongue and cheek kind of thing because in the 60’s the Carnicus was a pretty big event around here,” Vantrease says. Vantrease and his wife will be honored during the alumni dinner for having their theme proposal selected.

Vantrease and Deal both told The Pacer that the person who would know the most about Carnicus on the UTM campus is retired professor and women’s athletic director, Bettye Giles. In an interview, Giles was able to share some of her memories of Carnicus with The Pacer.

Giles said that when she came to UTM in 1952 she was told that she would have to be involved with Carnicus on campus. She knew that Carnicus was a combination of the words “carnival” and “circus,” because she remembered Carnicus at UT Knoxville. But, Giles explained that Knoxville’s version of Carnicus was quite a bit different from that of UTM. Carnicus at Knoxville was mainly skits that were put on by fraternities and sororities and that at many times were very “raunchy.”

“I couldn’t understand how as an instructor of physical education I was going to be involved with Carnicus. I didn’t really ask any questions because I needed a job, so I took it, feeling that I could handle whatever it was,” Giles said.

Giles explained that participation in Carnicus and physical education was required. “Back then the school required two years of physical education for every student. The physical education classes were mainly set up for freshmen and sophomores and everybody had to be in Carnicus.”

Giles remembers that Carnicus at UTM consisted of gymnastics, tumbling, trampoline, pyramid building, all forms of dance and many clown activities. There was even an election of a Carnicus king and queen.

Carnicus began as a one-day activity but because of the amount of people that were required to participate the event was extended to as many as three days long. The event was first held in what is now the Student Life Center and was later moved to the Skyhawk Field House. Giles also remembers that people from all across the state would come to watch the event.

“It used to totally amaze me because parents would drive from Clarksville to see you get on a mat and go splat. Remember that back then there was not as many things to do and when your child was doing something, people came to watch,” Giles said.

In Giles’s home it is very easy to reminded of Carnicus at UTM. On the walls in her living room are large paintings of clowns from Carnicus. The paintings are the work of Aaltje Vandeberg, a former professor of related arts and crafts. For Giles, these paintings brought back memories of those that were involved in Carnicus including Randa Moore, Ray Pollard, Betty Lawes, and Harry Long.

Giles says that she is excited about the Homecoming theme of “Carnicus Returnicus” but hopes that the students actually understand and appreciate what Carnicus used to be. “When Charley told me the theme was Carnicus Returnicus, I thought it was hilarious! But then I thought, what will this mean to the students,” Giles says.

Giles told The Pacer that she enjoyed Quad City last year and is looking forward to it this year. She agrees with those that believe that the Homecoming Parade had lived its life and needed to be discontinued but says if students wanted to revive the floats that they should have the opportunity to look into doing that.

Applications for becoming part of the UAC and entering a tent in Quad City are available by visiting the Alumni Relations Office. Tent prices for Quad City are as follows: 15 foot by 15 foot is $100, 20 foot by 20 foot is $200, 30 foot by 40 foot is $400.