Western officials are discussing taking more precautions to ensure Homecoming festivities are safe for students next year.

Howard Bailey, vice president for Student Affairs, said Homecoming parade participants next year may be required to have a fire extinguisher on every float.

That idea follows an incident at last week’s Homecoming parade when a float created by FarmHouse and Sigma Nu fraternities and Alpha Omicron Pi sorority caught fire after an electrical short on the float.

Charley Pride, director of student activities and organizations, said a float has never caught on fire before the parade, though some organizations burn their floats after the parade.

He said any new modifications will serve as safety precautions to protect students.

Pride said any changes to Homecoming float rules will be announced before the end of the school year after the Homecoming Committee meets again.

Travis Girten, a freshman from Wadesville, Ind., said he was on the float when it caught fire.

Girten, a FarmHouse pledge, said headlights on the tissue paper car on top of the float caught fire when they heated up.

He said he and the four other men manning the float tried to put the fire out themselves, but that made it worse.

“It was crazy and chaotic,” Girten said. “The car flipped over, and someone pulled it off the float.”

He said the situation was very dangerous.

Girten said he thinks FarmHouse will continue using moving parts on their future Homecoming floats, but he’s unsure about lights.

He said he thinks adding fire extinguishers to floats would be OK as long as they weren’t visible.

Ed Moody, assistant chief of prevention for the Bowling Green Fire Department, said he thinks adding fire extinguishers is an excellent idea.

He said the combination of tissue paper and hairspray, which organizations use to make floats, is highly flammable and dangerous.

Ginny Hensley, a member of the Homecoming Committee, said the committee hasn’t discussed changing guidelines on float construction.

Toppers working on fundamentals

More than noticeable this week was the scout team offense’s ability to move the ball against the first team defense. Head Coach David Elson said the receivers were “unconscious,” crediting their success to the simplicity of running plays from cards rather than perfection of the system.

But Elson added that the defense isn’t getting beat down due to a talent gap, but because the coaching staff may have gotten ahead of themselves in implementing a complicated system.

“I think that’s been part of our problem maybe is that we’ve focused too much on the Xs and Os and not enough on the fundamentals,” Elson said. “You’re wanting guys to know what they’re doing, and then you get to a point that you work so hard at ‘he’s got to know where to line up, he’s got to know who to block or what gap to be in.’ Then you look back at it and say, ‘now we’ve got to team him how, which is the fundamentals aspect of it.’”

Elson says Brown best in the Sun Belt Conference

Western has faced many great quarterbacks this season, including Tennessee’s Jonathan Crompton and South Florida’s Matt Grothe. But Elson said that when it comes to Sun Belt signal callers, Troy senior quarterback Levi Brown is the best.

“He’s so accurate and has such a great presence and feel with what they’re doing,” Elson said. “I think you’ve got to say he’s the one that’s above the rest of them based on what they’re doing.”

Brown has passed for 4,556 yards in his career at Troy and has thrown for over 350 yards in each of the Trojans’ past three games.

Troy hasn’t lost since its second game of the season, at Florida on Sept. 12. Elson noted that the Trojans’ success “all starts with (Brown).”

Crennel to address team Friday night

Elson said he expects Western legend Romeo Crennel to address the Toppers Friday night. Crennel, who was a four-year starter at Western and now owns five Super Bowl Rings, will be in town for homecoming to accept his induction into Western’s Hall of Distinguished Alumni.

In addition, former Head Coach Jack Harbaugh will be in attendance for Saturday’s game against Troy on former Topper quarterback Willie Taggart’s behalf. Taggart is also entering the Hall this weekend.

Injuries mounting

As with the stretch run of any college football team, the injury list is growing for Western.

The biggest news this week revolves around former Bowling Green High School standout and current sophomore defensive back Ryan Beard. Beard re-injured his posterior cruciate ligament before last week’s game against North Texas and will miss the rest of the season, according to Elson.

Junior receiver Quinterrance Cooper is still undergoing evaluation after suffering two concussions this season. Junior defensive back Orlando Misaalefua and freshman defensive back Kareem Peterson will also miss with concussions.

Junior linebacker Chris Bullard sat out of practice sick this week, sophomore center Shelley Anthony is doubtful with an elbow injury and Elson said junior offensive tackle Preston King is questionable with a leg injury.

No division in the locker room

With a 16-game losing streak in hand, senior receiver Jake Gaebler said the Toppers are refraining from pointing fingers.

“If anything, you see guys on the defensive or offensive side of the ball step up and take responsibility for the way things are going,” Gaebler said. “There definitely isn’t any division or finger pointing in the locker room, which is good to see.”

Gaebler has fought through the best and worst, from two winning seasons to now two in a row losing. And of the teams he‘s been a part of, Gaebler said the attitude of this one stands out.

“It says a lot about our character and the type of people we have on our team,” he said.

When one young man went to a Rush party at Western in the 1960s, he was turned away by a white Greek fraternity because of the color of his skin.

The man, Howard Bailey, is now vice president of Student Affairs.

After his rejection, he founded the first traditionally black Greek fraternity at Western — Kappa Alpha Psi — in May 1969.

At the age of 21, he was the youngest member of the chapter and was elected president.

Forty years later, Kenneth Thomas, a senior from Lansing, Mich., now holds that position.

In honor of their 40th anniversary this year, the Kappas will have a welcome-back reception for their alumni members on Friday and a banquet and awards ceremony on Sunday to honor members’ special achievements.

They can celebrate 40 years thanks to Bailey and others who worked to get Kappa Alpha Psi on campus.

After his rejection in the ‘60s, Bailey and a handful of other black students wanted to have their own organization to help them form relationships and do service.

The group petitioned administrators to start an organization, but they were turned down, he said.

Administrators told them they didn’t have enough people to start a fraternity, so the group decided to form a club instead, Bailey said.

He said for the most part the black students at Western were athletes, and the majority of Western officials and administrators at the time were white.

“They didn’t want us to have one, and they didn’t want us there,” he said.

In the fall of 1967, the Kappa Que Club was formed. The group was active in community service and participated in campus events. Bailey served as the club’s president.

But he still hadn’t given up on having a fraternity of his own.

With a friend’s guidance, he successfully petitioned the national Kappa headquarters and Western administrators to establish a local chapter.

In the fall 1968, Kappa Alpha Psi had its first pledge class at Western, made up of some Kappa Que Club members.

“To be a fraternity on campus meant to us that we had a new identity, a new pride, opportunity to take advantage of internal training that the national fraternity offered — leadership.”

Forty years later, Thomas and others get to enjoy the brotherhood that Bailey and other Kappa founders started.

Thomas was raised in a military family and came to Western never expecting to be involved with Greek Affairs, he said. No one in his family was a Greek.

But he was drawn to Kappa Alpha Psi’s leadership and achievements.

Alumni of Western’s chapter include Erik Jenkins, head coach for men’s track and field; Michael Crowe, director of Judicial Affairs; the Rev. Earl Jackson, pastor of New Bethel Baptist Church in Bowling Green, and John Moore, associate professor of teacher education.

Moore was in the fraternity from 1977 to 1980. He said his membership motivated him to achieve some of his feats, such as working on his doctorate at the University of Kentucky to become a leader in his field and running for president of the National Council for the Social Studies.

“My roots in Kappa Alpha Psi helped me to achieve in those ways later on in life,” he said.

Moore said he was drawn to the organization’s priorities of community service and individual achievement. He said he’s still involved with the fraternity’s national chapter and will continue to be.

Moore said the group regularly engaged in events to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the Kappas’ national philanthropy, when he was a member at Western.

Thomas said the fraternity is carrying on the tradition of community service.

In the past two years, members have worked with local and national organizations including the March of Dimes Foundation, the Housing Authority of Bowling Green, the Boys & Girls Club of Bowling Green and St. Jude, he said.

Amelia Miller, program director of the Boys & Girls Club of Bowling Green, said the Kappas regularly work with the children there.

“They are very good with them,” she said. “They are also very involved with all of the programs that we have running.”

Thomas said being a Kappa has had a great impact on his life.

“I try to embody our motto — achievement in every field of human endeavor — as much as I can,” he said. “I hope to be able to continue pushing our members to be future leaders, so it’s carried on for the next forty years.”

The issue: Alumni will return to Western’s campus this weekend to participate in Homecoming activities.

Our view: While they’re here, the alumni should share any concerns they have with administrators about the state of Western’s football and tailgating situation.

Western’s lack of success on the football field this season has had several consequences.

A lack of respect from other teams and fan outcry for coaching changes are just a couple of examples of what happens when a team goes winless this late in the season.

Perhaps a more saddening effect is one that’s become almost palpable leading up to this weekend’s Homecoming game — fans just aren’t excited.

Despite its place as a beloved fall tradition at every university, Homecoming has lost some of its appeal at Western, following the team’s shortcomings on the field.

Those involved with Homecoming activities might not feel the change, but the majority of students checked out of football mode once the new tailgating rules were implemented.

For all the growth and good aspects of the university, the tailgating scene and the football game is the snapshot alumni will take away from this weekend.

That begs the question of how their impression of Western will change after seeing the diminished nature of both those areas compared to previous years.

Students have made their opinions known to administrators by pulling their support for the football team and abandoning their tailgating routines.

Now it’s the alumni’s turn to speak up.

Considering the donations that Western enjoys from its alumni, administrators would be wise to pay attention to what’s being said this weekend.

Failing to keep the alumni happy, especially during the current economic climate, would undoubtedly slow the rate of growth Western has enjoyed the past decade.

Considering the spike in hotel reservations for this weekend, Western should expect plenty of loyal alumni to return for the Homecoming celebration.

The Herald hopes those who return won’t refrain from making their concerns known.

After all, who better to help guide the future of Western than those who know where we’ve been?

This editorial represents the majority opinion of the Herald’s 11-member editorial board.