At University of Idaho, no more Moms’ and Dads’ weekends

The final University of Idaho Dads’ Weekend – when the families of students are encouraged to visit the UI campus and Moscow – continues today.

UI Associate Director of Alumni Events Marie Duncan said Dads’ Weekend, which has historically been held in the fall, and Moms’ Weekend, which happens in the spring, will be renamed Parent and Family Weekend starting next fall. She said the event will still occur once in the fall semester and once in the spring. Moms’ Weekend will still take place for the final time this spring.

“We’re not taking anything away,” Duncan said. “We’re just renaming the title.”

Duncan said the UI traditionally referred to the two weekends as Parents Weekend, but she believes the names were changed in the mid 1990s.

Duncan said the UI is one of the few universities in the country that hosts a separate weekend for dads and moms. Washington State University still holds its Dad’s Weekend every fall and Mom’s Weekend every spring.

Duncan said her office fields questions every year from fathers and other students’ relatives asking if they can attend Moms’ Weekend and vice-versa.

“Everyone has been welcomed,” Duncan said. “We never wanted to say, ‘No,’ or make people feel like they couldn’t come, but now with the name change, we hope it will be more apparent.”

She said the combination of fielding those phone calls and researching how other schools hold their family weekends led to the name change, which was decided in August.

Duncan said many of the events on both weekends are open to everyone, not just mothers or fathers. She said the first-ever Donuts with Dad event will take place Saturday morning at Moscow Building Supply – an event geared toward fathers, at least from the name perspective. Depending on how the event goes, Duncan said the name of the event could be changed next year to encourage all relatives to attend.

“If anything, we’re going to increase our offerings on those weekends,” Duncan said.

Although next year’s events are still in the planning stages, Duncan said the hope is to make all events open to everyone.

“We’ve continued to see an increase of people coming to town for these events, so if anything, we hope it will open the doors for more family members to come and enjoy Moscow along with our regular dads that we see year-to-year,” Duncan said.