Are You Participating in Purple Fridays?
In this file photo, students wearing purple Chatham University shirts pose for a picture during Orientation Fun Fest. (Kyle Ferreira)
It’s not rare to see students, staff, or faculty on campus wearing Chatham University merch, whether it’s a sleek polo shirt, a comfortable hoodie, or Cougar-branded activewear. But now you’re even more likely to see people rocking Chatham purple at the end of the school week.
That’s because Chatham Student Government (CSG) this semester passed a resolution instituting “Purple Fridays,” thus encouraging people to show school spirit by wearing the color synonymous with the University every Friday.
Jackson Adkins ’25, the executive president of CSG, helped bring the legislation forward. “Whenever I think about Purple Friday, I always think of ‘Mean Girls,’” Adkins joked. “At one point, Regina George said, ‘On Wednesdays we wear pink,’ just because she wanted everyone to know the Mean Girls were a group, that they were together.”
Adkins and fellow CSG member Jessie “Atticus” Danielson ’24 came up with the idea for Purple Fridays during a student government retreat. Both lacrosse players, Danielson and Adkins found solidarity with their teammates as soon as they got to Chatham by wearing purple every Friday. It was something their coach suggested.
“It’s been a tradition that the men’s lacrosse team has done for the entire time I’ve been at Chatham,” said Danielson, adding that other teams at the University also use color coordination as a bonding experience.
“Every Friday we wear purple to show a little bit of team spirit, show a little bit of team pride, and oftentimes, wearing purple means we’re wearing our team gear, so that’s always a great way to show our presence on campus,” he continued.
But Adkins and Danielson, both of whom are from St. Paul, Minn., said as much as they felt a sense of kinship amongst their teammates, that bond didn’t always translate to the broader campus community, especially those who don’t play sports.
That’s how they came up with the idea to turn Purple Fridays from a team tradition into something that the whole University could feel invited to join. “When you’re an athlete, there’s focus on your activities, your practices, your team,” Adkins said. “You don’t really think to look outside of your community.”
The same could be said of other groups on campus, Adkins said; people tend to get siloed in the activities and subcultures in their comfort zones. “We want to sort of bridge this gap and get folks involved in all of the activities that are happening on campus,” he said.
While it’s impossible to accurately gauge participation across Shadyside Campus, Chatham Eastside, and Eden Hall Campus combined, Adkins said he was happy with the amount of purple he’s personally seen people wearing on Fridays since the legislation was passed this semester.
“I see a lot of nonathletes getting involved,” Adkins said. He noted he’s seen people wearing shirts representing their involvement with the Drama Club or CSG.
Plans for how to expand the concept and increase its popularity are still being developed. Adkins said he’d like to boost advertising in the spring, while Danielson suggested there might be events on the quad where students could have their participation recognized with small prizes.
That kind of face-to-face interaction among different students would also go along with their goal of deepening the already strong feeling of community among students, faculty, and staff at Chatham.
“I just hope that people will be more open to join teams, clubs, participate in on-campus events, go to events that are held on the quad— just be more willing to engage with and participate in the community,” Danielson said.
Mick Stinelli is a writer and digital content specialist at Chatham University. His writing has previously appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 90.5 WESA, and WYEP.org.