NU Day at Wrigley is All About the People

[Charge organ]

On Wednesday, May 14, the Chicago Cubs wrapped up their three game series against the Miami Marlins but they weren’t the only draw at Wrigley Field. The Northwestern community showed up in full force, with alumni, faculty and current students coming together for the annual NU Day at Wrigley. 

ROBERT DUNLAP: Even if you aren’t a huge fan of baseball or the Cubs, it’s still often a nice evening to get out and to see part of the city that you might not have necessarily engaged with during your time as a student, or if you move to Chicago after you graduate. 

That’s Bobby Dunlap, Northwestern’s director of alumni engagement. While he hasn’t always been directly responsible for NU Day at Wrigley, he’s had a hand in it for the past decade. 

DUNLAP: I really enjoy the connection that we have with alumni. We do a pregame reception. It’s not a formal program, so it’s just people gathering and connecting and meeting up with fellow alumni who are out to enjoy a night at the ballpark.

NU Day at Wrigley has been around since at least the 1980s. For 2016 alum Claire Johnson, it was more than just a chance to watch the game and connect with fellow alumni. 

CLAIRE JOHNSON: I feel like I haven’t done many alumni things since graduating, so I wanted to like come feel the Northwestern spirit. And also I needed a Father’s Day present for my dad. 

Johnson and her father Stuart Johnson, a former Feinberg professor, have been to Cubs games before, but Wednesday was their first Northwestern one and they’ve got a few notes. 

JOHNSON: My dad said there’s not enough old alumni around. 

Still they plan to keep coming, even though most of Claire Johnson’s friends have dissipated from the Chicago area. 2008 alum Heather Loperna is in the same boat but for her that’s part of the fun

HEATHER LOPERNA: I feel like you meet new people too outside of your class as well because I have a lot of friends that no longer live in Chicago. If they were here, I think they would all be here but it’s kinda nice to see different generations as well. 

Loperna has been to several NU days herself.

LOPERNA: We’ve actually been to, gosh, probably at least 5 or 6 of these games. And then we also come in the fall, whenever they do the football at Wrigley. We come to, I’d say, at least one. 

Though Tyler Newcome is not a northwestern alum himself, he has grown very fond of the community.

TYLER NEWCONE: The sense of community is phenomenal. So like she said, when we were walking in from where we park, a gentleman was talking to us started with, you know, “are you rooting for the Marlins or what?” We talked to him a little bit, talking with us about — he’s made something like this a tradition since 1966, 1969, so we were just chatting with him the whole way up to the stadium.

LOPERENA: And people yelling like you know “go cats” and stuff as you’re walking in, it’s nice. 

NEWCOME: Last year, last year I finally bought a purple shirt.

For them, it’s a mix of things that keeps them coming back.

LOPERNA: I mean, one, I’m a Cubs fan because I lived in Evanston and then northern Chicago, and he lived in Wrigleyville for a little bit too, but then you’re kind of combining two of my favorite things, my alma mater and Cubs, together. So, and it’s kind of nice to see, like, all the different alumni and supporters come out. 

But even if you are not a Cubs fan let alone a baseball fan, the event still has its appeal.

JORDAN HOWARD: I feel like I never really enjoy the baseball that much, but I really like spending time with my friends and like learning about baseball as it happens, so it’s kind of fun to just be here and like hang out with other Northwestern students.

That was third-year Jordan Howard, who has been to every NU Day since starting at Northwestern.

HOWARD: I think that, like, it’s kind of fun doing the big commute down with everybody on the L and like getting hot dogs and stuff like that. I think it’s just a way to relax. 

NU Day at Wrigley is a popular event with undergrads. Student tickets sold out more than three weeks in advance. According to Dunlap, thats nothing new.

DUNLAP: This is a consistent sellout event that we have for students, so it’s something we’re happy to host year in year out because we get great expressed interest through purchasing all the tickets.

For senior Francia Quarte, it was her last chance to experience NU Day as an undergrad, and the journey to get her ticket wasn’t exactly smooth.

FRANCIA QUARTE: I made a Ballpark account with, like, a bad email that I couldn’t, like, verify, so I had to call customer support, and I even went to the box office, like, after the fact, ’cause, like, once they figured out the email situation then, like, my tickets disappeared. So then I went to the box office because they told me to, and then the box office people were like, “no, we can’t help you — come back day of, and you can get your tickets, like, day of,” and I was like, “OK, that’s stressful, but sure,” but then they showed up because I also emailed the person that like initially transferred me the tickets and she, like, figured out how to send it to me. So I got the tickets. It paid off in the end. Yeah, I had a good time. Yeah, it was like with my friends and stuff like that, and it was my first time going. It was my first ever Cubs game, even though I’m like a Chicagoan, so yeah, it was nice. It was fun. 

While student tickets did sell out, this year’s prices were the highest they’ve been in five years. Dunlap shared insight on what’s behind the hike along with efforts in place to keep the event accessible:

DUNLAP: I mean, ticket prices cost — they’re equivalent to what the increase that we received from the Cubs. So we still try to make it a manageable experience for people, and we provide tickets through Student Enrichment Services at no cost so that it’s not — the price is never something that is something that precludes people from being engaged with it. And we encourage students, if it’s not something that’s within reach for them financially, that they can reach out to us and we’ll happily do what we can to make accommodations as needed.

A portion of proceeds from ticket sales also goes toward the Student Activities Assistance Fund, a supplemental grant to assist undergrads in student organizations who may need financial support to fully participate.

DUNLAP: We know how much, from an alumni perspective, that connection to student organizations or experiences as an undergraduate student that aren’t necessarily academically related, provide a really powerful connection back to the institution. You form friendships. You learn leadership roles. These are the things that really speak to people as they continue on past graduation. So supporting that was kind of a no-brainer for us.

As for the game itself, the cubs lost to the Marlins 3-1. But third year Amanda Oliver was able to make light of the situation

AMANDA OLIVER: The game was great, I wanna give a shout out to my favorite player, Nico. I thought he. 

TATUM BALDWIN: He was absolutely stellar. Ten out of ten. 

OLIVER: No, he deserves a shout out for striking out every time. I thought he really brought the Northwestern spirit to the game.

And speaking of Northwestern spirit, basketball coach Chris Collins along with Nicholas Martinelli and Brooks Barnhizer led the crowd in singing the seventh-inning stretch, adding another moment of Purple Pride to the day.

For WNUR News, I’m Karrah Toatley.

[Crowd singing Take Me Out to The Ballgame]