It has been two weeks since Northern Kentucky University President James Votruba announced that Fridays will now be known as Black and Gold Days. But after this past Friday, students across campus may not have gotten the memo yet.

“Black and Gold Days?” freshman Mollie Tanner said. “Was that in the email he sent out a while back? I had no idea.”

Votruba did in fact send out an email on Oct. 14, which explained his intent for Black and Gold Days. According to the president’s email, they are an attempt to “encourage everyone to show … pride in our university.”

“Our NKU community has so much to be proud of,” Votruba said. “Everyone across campus — students, faculty and staff — is encouraged to wear black and gold each Friday to show your Norse pride.”

Votruba even offered the chance of a prize if students participate. Students wearing black and gold on Black and Gold Days may win a prize for showing their spirit. Currently, the prize is a 10 percent discount coupon for the NKU Bookstore.

Even with a money-saving enticement, some students are reluctant to participate. “We aren’t like UK or UC or Duke or whatever,” sophomore Jacob Grady said. “It’s not high school anymore anyways. That’s why no one is doing it, probably.”

Other students see a brighter side to the new tradition. “It’s a good way to make students feel more involved, feel like they are part of a larger community,” senior Kelsey Short said. “I think there is a lot of school pride here, but we don’t show it that often, and we really should. So if this helps, then that would be great.”

Students sporting school colors to express their Norse pride is not an unheard of or even uncommon concept. The University of Kentucky holds “Blue and White Days” for school pride and the University of Cincinnati hosts “Red Outs,” when students wear red to athletic events, to rally their student body during game seasons, both of which see large turnouts.

The issue with NKU’s attempt might be the dearth of exposure for the event.

“I don’t really open emails unless they are from my professors, so that’s probably why I missed it,” sophomore Bryan Husk said. “If you would of put a large sign up somewhere that hung up in the Student Union, I probably would’ve seen it and made sure to wear stuff today. I actually have a lot of [NKU] gear to wear, but I honestly rarely ever do, so I guess this will give me a reason to wear it, and that’s pretty cool I guess.”