MACOMB, Ill. — Swinging their pompoms in sync, the Westernettes danced in the sun on a recent Friday morning as the Marching Leathernecks played their traditional tune “Let’s Go ‘Necks!” in the shade.

Three days before classes were to start, the dance team and marching band performed before a large crowd outside the College of Fine Arts and Communication Recital Hall on Western Illinois University’s main campus. This was a celebration of sorts, warranting an appearance by Ray, the school’s beloved English bulldog mascot clad in a WIU sweater of purple and gold.

Inside the recital hall, the school’s president, Kristi Mindrup, took the stage with other university administrators and mentioned the school’s enrollment figure in 1973 of 15,469 — three times the roughly 5,100 estimated enrolled

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