Eastern bleeds blue! And orange and blue, and red and white, and purple.

Around the campus, there are many students who not only wear Eastern school apparel, but also the apparel from many other schools.

Ceci Brinker, director of Student Life, was enthusiastic about the topic of school spirit.

“I’m really passionate about the campus showing school pride and school spirit, and when I say campus, I mean faculty, staff and students. I’m passionate about challenging people to show more of that,” Brinker said.

Brinker said it sends a message to others how students feel about their school.

“School spirit is never more evident than what you wear,” Brinker said. “If you come here for schooling, you must have had a good reason, so why not show any school spirit or school pride? Not to say that the University of Illinois is a bad place, but what does that say about our school? When you picked to wear ISU, you could have easily picked to wear EIU (apparel).”

Brinker said she often stops students to ask why they are wearing other colleges’ apparel and usually they respond by saying they do not own any Eastern clothing.

Across campus, students’ comments about wearing other school apparel varied.

Dani Grochocinski, a sophomore biology major wore an Indiana University shirt.

“It was a Christmas present from my best friend, and their red matches black and dark jeans rather than our blue,” Grochocinski said.

Wearing clothing as gifts from friends or relatives is a common answer, Brinker said, and most people asked said they wore shirts because of family or friends.

“I’ve always been an Illini fan, of their sports like basketball and football,” said Mark Stanford, a freshman history major.

It seems like many students like showing support, as Sarah Schlund, a sophomore biology major, also said she supported the Illini since four of her siblings graduated from the University of Illinois.

“And I’ll probably go there for grad school,” Schlund said.

Steven Storm, a sophomore biology major, wore a University of Michigan hoodie and said Michigan was a Big Ten school. “They have more publicity, and more people love watching big ten schools,” Storm said.

“There’s a concern with loyalty, school spirit, and school pride if you wear other school shirts consistently,” Brinker said. “I owe it to my institution and myself to wear true blue. If that’s not the case, then why are you here? Why not go to U of I?”

However, the amount of school spirit around campus has actually increased, Brinker said.

“Three or four years ago, spirit ware was not as prominent. But over the last three years, it has improved significantly,” Brinker said. “It’s getting to be contagious, but we still have room to improve. It shouldn’t be just for special occasions, like opening weekend or homecoming. It should be ongoing.”

Brinker said students should show their school spirit by wearing blue.

“I would challenge people to think about it more,” Brinker said. “You don’t have to wear blue everyday, but try to show that we have school pride. Show that this institution means more to you.”

Jacob Swanson can be reached

at 581-7942

or [email protected]