All through my four years here in Evanston, my fellow Northwestern students have often complained about the lack of community on campus.
Perhaps this is because we don’t realize that community is found in the people that surround us everyday.
Today’s Philfest, a day-long celebration on the Norris University Center’s East Lawn, promises to help foster that sense of community, if at the very least, for one shining spring day.
Dedicated in loving memory to Phil Semmer, who would have been a Weinberg senior had he not died tragically in an auto accident last August, Philfest is an occasion that has great potential to bring NU students of all kinds together for the noblest of reasons: to have a good time with each other.
Phil’s life was characterized by this sort of jubilee spirit. While some saw a lack of community on campus, those of us who knew Phil were fortunate enough to experience community at its finest.
Phil had that rare ability to unify people. His love of life was infectious and pervaded all that he did in his time here at NU.
People were drawn to Phil because being near him almost always ensured fun.
Philfest stands as a monument to that ability, as a celebration of a life seemingly devoted to bringing people together in the name of fun.
As Phil’s friends began organizing the fest, we wanted to conjure up all of those wonderful times that we spent with Phil. We decided on the format of Philfest, an outdoor music concert in conjunction with an ultimate frisbee tournament, because those were two things that Phil loved and that we enjoyed along with him.
And as the fest has progressed, Phil’s ability to unify has been evident in the very path that the event has taken.
Initially conceived as a small-scale tribute, support from all over campus (especially from Students for Environmental and Ecological Development, Delta Upsilon, Delta Kappa Epsilon, Sigma Nu and Phi Kappa Sigma) has turned Philfest into one of the biggest campus events of the spring.
It will include eight hours of free music, featuring campus notables C-DO, Tippler Contingent and Sweet Sweet Candy. Bluegrass band Cornmeal and NU alums Rebecca’s Statue also will perform. Funk legend Merl Saunders with His Funky Friends will cap off Philfest .
Even in his absence, Phil has brought together enough people to make Philfest much greater than any of us ever could have dreamed.
Phil died leaving behind quite a legacy: A tight-knit community of friends linked by our shared experiences of a miraculous human being.
For the fest, all of us that knew Phil, including family, friends from around the country and even those that know him only in story, will come together to have the kind of good time that Phil would have loved.
If ever our campus had a reason to congregate in one space, Philfest is it. We urge the NU community at large to join us today in a celebration of the life of one of our own.