Hilltoppers may begin to notice an extra dose of school spirit on campus on Fridays this semester.

President Gary Ransdell and the Staff Council have designated Fridays as WKU Spirit Days, where students, faculty and staff are encouraged to dress in school clothing or in red or white, Staff Council Chairperson Diane Carver said.

Carver said she was hoping to have a day on campus similar to a ‘casual Friday,’ but make it more WKU-appropriate.

Ransdell spoke to the council this summer about starting the spirit days, and Carver formalized it.

“(Ransdell) always shows a lot of passion for the school, and this is just a way for the rest of the campus to show theirs,” she said.

Carver said she has seen a lot of support from the staff.

“Several of us in the (information technology) office have been wearing red on Fridays so far,” she said. “I mentioned it at the Staff Council meeting, and several of the members said they have been seeing more people with red clothing.”

Carver said she hopes the rest of the students will follow suit on Fridays, and it appears she will be receiving some help from the Student Government Association.

Last May, SGA set up a station on campus where students could trade in a T-shirt from another school in exchange for a WKU shirt. SGA President Colton Jessie said they hope to use the spirit days as an outlet to restart their T-shirt swap.

“We want to keep students from wearing other school’s T-shirts, especially on the red and white days now,” Jessie said.

Jessie said the T-shirt swap last semester went well, but SGA has plenty of leftover shirts to continue the swap this semester. He isn’t sure when it will start but hopes it will be sometime in the near future.

Glasgow sophomore Wes Taylor thinks the idea of supporting WKU on Fridays has a lot of staying power.

“It might not be big at first, but once people see others wearing red on Fridays then other people will catch on,” Taylor said.

Evansville sophomore Spencer Wheatley also supports the weekly spirit days and hopes that it will stop people from wearing other schools’ clothes.

“A lot of people wear UK or Louisville shirts, so this might help that,” he said. “If you support UK, then just go there.”

Wheatley also said that once students see their professors participating in the spirit days, they’ll start to do the same.

“The faculty will probably advertise it, but it will be up to us to keep it alive,” he said.