The color orange may cause panic under the United States’ new homeland security warning system, but in Syracuse and other cities across the country, orange will be a sign of Syracuse University pride today.

The university will celebrate National Orange Day in honor of SU’s 132nd birthday. The event is sponsored by SU’s Alumni Club and the Student Association, which encourages students and alumni to wear orange.

Don Doerr, vice president of SU’s Central New York Alumni chapter, said National Orange Day is important because it unites people who hold SU close to their heart, no matter where they live.

“It’s always good to bring together SU students and alumni and raise awareness around the country about SU’s presence,” Doerr said.

On Saturday more than 40 SU alumni and students participated in the American Heart Association’s Heartwalk in Syracuse to raise both money for the organization as well as publicity for National Orange Day.

David Aitken, who represents Central New York’s Alumni Club’s National Board, said he didn’t know how much money SU’s contingency raised for the American Heart Association. Doerr said while alumni clubs tend to be socially-based, they also make community connections nationwide. The connections include sponsoring educational events and locally, scholarships for Central New York-area students who attend SU.

“We want to show the communities we live in that when we graduate from SU we give to the back to them and we care about them,” Doerr said.

In honor of the day, both the Carrier Dome and the Niagara Mohawk Building in downtown Syracuse will be lit in orange. The Crouse Chimes will ring the university’s alma mater at noon and Chancellor Kenneth A. Shaw will cut a birthday cake at 12:30 p.m. in the Schine Student Center. In New York CIty, the SU flag will fly on top of the Empire State Building, a result of SU alumni contacts, said Doerr.

“There’s a huge alumni network that people don’t know about.” said Doerr, who graduated from SU with an undergraduate degree in 1985 and a law degree in 1988. “We want students to know that from the minute the step foot on campus they’ll one day be part of the SU family that reaches around the country.”

Jonathan Hoster, a senior broadcast journalism major, said that as a member of the University Traditions Corrective Team, he and other committee members are making attempts to bridge and revive old and new traditions at SU.

“We want students to come here and know what’s definitively SU, and National Orange Day is a really neat way to get this all connected,” Hoster said.

Student Association President Colin Seale said SA agreed to sponsor the day a few weeks ago.

“At first I really didn’t understand the impact of Orange Day,” Seale said. “It’s amazing to see the tradition carried out and shown nationwide.”

National Orange Day was first celebrated in 1994 to honor SU’s founders. Doerr said he’s made attempts to find out whether other universities have national pride days like SU’s, but doesn’t know of any. Regardless, Doerr, who was a cheerleader at SU, said National Orange Day is a day SU should cherish.

“I bleed orange,” Doerr said, “and it will be nice to see everyone else who does wearing their orange Monday too.”

Published on March 24, 2002 at 12:00 pm