A rivalry that began more than a century ago will be brought back to life thanks to the collaborative efforts of the Associated Students of the University of Idaho and the Associated Students of Washington State University.
Archives | Argonaut
Graphic from a 1937 edition of the Argonaut
“It was a priority over here at WSU between me and our ASWSU president that we recognized that our two universities being so close together is a really unique thing,” said Kevin Massimino, ASWSU vice president. “We decided there’s no better way to collaborate than to start working together so we made sure that was something we started doing over the summer.”
UI and WSU compete in four athletic match-ups this year, which was the inspiration for the collaboration.
“That was sort of a jumping off point that this was a real year where in terms of athletics we’re competing against each other in a really profound way and we’d love to compete in ways that engage the entire student body as well,” said ASUI President Max Cowan.
The schools met in August for soccer and Thursday for Volleyball. Saturday will be the first time the schools have meet on the football field since 2007, and the Cougars will travel to UI in December to compete in men’s basketball.
The yearlong rivalry will be about more than just sports though. ASUI and ASWSU have been working together to introduce a food drive competition, tug-of-war and service hours competition between the two schools.
“It’s mutually beneficial — a rivalry that strengthens our community as opposed to divides it. Because really when it comes to comparing ourselves to WSU it’s so much more about all the things we have in common than the things that make us different,” Cowan said.
Cowan said the rivalry is important because it reminds Vandals to be proud of the university, and provides a common sense of purpose and community.
“When so much of our time here at the university is spent trying to define ourselves as unique and trying to separate ourselves from everyone else I think it’s really great to take an opportunity to remind ourselves that we as a community share so much and I think that’s really important for the sense (of) community here,” Cowan said.
Massimino said ASWSU realized the importance of the rivalry last spring and jumped on the opportunity to work with UI. He said he felt it was important to provide more for the students than just the opportunity to cheer on their respective teams.
“We think it’s pretty cool that our athletic departments are playing each other in four different events this year but we wanted something for the students outside of just showing up and cheering for the game,” Massimino said. “I think especially in college and centered around athletics, rivalries are just a fun thing for students. Obviously we don’t have a super heated, hatred rivalry like you get in other parts of the country, but I think that with our close proximity and with our long standing traditions and how long we’ve been here it’s just another thing for students to latch onto.”
Cowan and Massimino agreed that regardless of who wins the games, the Battle of the Palouse is about more than athletics.
“At the end of the year whoever wins this battle of the Palouse it really won’t matter because at the end of the day we’re going to be contributing several thousand pounds of food and several thousand hours of community service,” Massimino said.
Kaitlyn Krasselt can be reached at [email protected]
