Athens, GA–Hey Day, a more than seventy-year old tradition at Auburn, was rebranded into University of Georgia’s first Dawg Tag Day.

Dawg Tag Day looked like a campus-wide ‘meet and greet’ with students making name tags and conversing with other students they did not know. Eight UGA organizations (Student Government Association, The Arch Society, Visitors Center, Student Alumni Association, University Union, Black Affairs Council, HEROs, Miracle) partnered together to create the first Dawg Tag Day. The goal of this event is to unite a diverse UGA campus by talking to fellow classmates who wore a “dawg tag.”

“Learning a name is the first step to interacting with some one you wouldn’t normally interact with,” said Student Government Association Senator Chip Chambers. “Wearing name tags is a really simple but profound way to promote that unity across campus.”

More than four thousand name tags were spread across four tables around campus. The “dawg tag” idea seemed to be popular around campus. These tags could be seen on students and even guide dogs in classrooms and the Tate Student Center and North Campus areas.

The idea came from Auburn University’s Hey Day. According to Auburn University’s website, Hey Day is one of Auburn’s longest running traditions and dates as far as World War II. This is UGA’s first year holding the Dawg Tag Day event. Student Government Association Freshman Board member Yazmarr Williams says they hope the event grows each year to become a well-known tradition like Auburn’s Hey Day.

“Currently, we just have a couple tables around and people saying hello. For them (Auburn), it’s an all-day event where there is music and food,” said Williams. “Our hope is that with continued work throughout our career at UGA, it will just keep getting bigger and bigger.”

The Dawg Tag Day is to promote inclusivity on campus. Williams does not believe that inclusivity is necessarily an issue at UGA. She says the issue is getting students to break out of the normal routine and the usual friend group.

“I think it’s easy to be stuck in your current sector or wherever you are. Once you get comfortable in wherever you’re at with your friend group, you don’t really think you need to branch off. This is just that little extra push to make it that much easier to know people that you normally wouldn’t talk to,” said Williams.

By S.K. Bowen