Kissing tradition
At 11:30 pm, the music had already started, but students were just getting warmed up. At midnight on February 12, True Wolverine kicked off with an announcement from Miss UVU. On the lower west end of the iconic UVU fountain, flames surrounded UVU’s letters, casting a glow on the crowd of soon-to-be ‘True Wolverines.’
In a crowd of approximately 200 students, true wolverines stepped up for a chance to kiss a random stranger. Two-by-two, a steady stream of couples received cheers as they walked forward, kissed and walked off with radiant smiles still on their faces. When the stream of students started to slow down, one person shouted, “This is UVU, not BYU!”
“People think [True Wolverine] is raunchy. We have to make sure people keep it under control because we don’t want them to take the event away. It’s a good university tradition,” said Kianna Campbell, UVUSA vice president of activities.
According to Cambell, kissing events like True Wolverine have a long tradition at other Universities across the state. But in order to keep True Wolverine a “clean” event, Campbell has had to enforce standards.
“Like this one guy, he had been up three or four times, and I had seen him from last year. That part when he lifted his arms up for the girl to take off his shirt, I told him, if he kept doing stuff like that we would kick him out. Then I told him, ‘have some class,’” Campbell said
As one of the most popular events on campus, True Wolverine allows students to show their courage in a group of peers, even if they’re a little shy at first.
“It’s kind of embarrassing with everyone watching,” said Micha, a student who had kissed a stranger after a buddy made a shout out to him on the mic.
According to UVUSA students, the event was fairly easy to set up, and didn’t face policy obstacles about keeping the school open late. However, UVUSA has faced challenges in putting on more events comparable to True Wolverine.
“[UVU] is scared of doing things differently. People don’t want to risk putting on a different type of event if people don’t come, so, we’re a little nervous,” said Tyler Brklacich, vice president of academics.
Despite the current stigma Brklacich currently sees about putting on more late-night events on campus, Brklacich feels more late-night events would be a good addition to campus.
This year’s event continued until 1 a.m., when students were finally asked to exchange numbers and head home. True Wolverine is expected come again this time next year and continues to be a “classy” UVU tradition.