photo by: Journal-World Photo Illustration

Lawrence Journal-World Editorial

As the saying goes, everybody loves a parade. Area residents this year will have one less to love, as the University of Kansas has announced the cancellation of its Band Day tradition, which normally includes a downtown parade and a special halftime football performance featuring high school bands from across the region.

The cancellation is concerning, but not because there will be one less fun event to attend downtown. Fear not on that front. City leaders will close down a street to accommodate almost any opportunity to party. You should be able to fill your calendar with other downtown opportunities, including a Veterans Day parade that is a relatively new and welcome addition to Lawrence’s events scene.

The loss of band day is concerning for a more fundamental reason to the university: recruitment. The event offered several hundred Kansas high school students and their families a chance to come to the beautiful KU campus. That’s a benefit that shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand.

Although KU hasn’t struggled with enrollment to the same degree as some other universities — look at Kansas State and the University of Missouri, for example — KU’s enrollment growth hasn’t been robust.

In the fall of 2017, KU had 19,338 undergraduate students, according to university statistics. That was up from 19,245 in fall 2015 but down from 20,343 in fall 2010. Band Day, of course, has very little to do with these trends, but they are a good reminder of KU’s need to be an aggressive recruiter.

There are signs that KU does intend to be aggressive in attracting out-of-state and international students. Chancellor Douglas Girod has said it must be a priority. With the state of Kansas’ population challenges, he is correct. However, out-of-state students always will be the icing on KU’s cake. Kansas high school students will be the cake for the foreseeable future.

Granted, participation numbers in Band Day have been trending downward for quite some time. Selling high school kids on the fun of coming to a KU football game has been tougher in recent years. And perhaps targeting band students is a bit narrow of a strategy. There are legitimate reasons to move away from the Band Day tradition, although the issues of cost cited by KU seem a bit flimsy.

Perhaps the cancellation of Band Day, can act as a spur for some university leaders to come up with a truly marquee event to bring Kansas high school students to the KU campus. The facilities and setting of the Lawrence campus are a tremendous selling point.

KU consistently lets one piece of low-hanging fruit in that regard go unharvested. Lawrence and KU last hosted a Kansas State High School Basketball Championship tournament in 1987. Compare that to Manhattan and Kansas State, which has had a streak of 20-plus years of hosting a state basketball tournament. Such an event can bring thousands of high school students and families to a campus. Although there may be some planning difficulties involved, KU should be urged to overcome them, just as K-State and Wichita State have many times to host state basketball tournaments. Maybe there are even other events that could use the historic and highly popular Allen Fieldhouse to attract high school students for a visit.

Of course, there are other possibilities too that have nothing to do with sports. KU, without question, does host some fine events that bring high school students to campus. It seems appropriate, though, to ask whether more can be done.

Band Day or not, KU still needs to toot its own horn to potential students.