April 8, 2015
By Chris Clapper
UW-Whitewater campus has been host to a number of magical guests and activities from the Harry Potter world as put on by the Languages and Literatures department for the past two years.
With the flourishing event, “The Order of Snitches and Witches” decided this year it will open to the entire department of the College of Letters and Sciences, and so far, has garnered interest from professors.
Last year the event attracted 40 participants and they only expect more.
This year there will be a theatre and political science professor discussing the politics of the Harry Potter world and teaching transfiguration. The new-found interest has led to a broadening of the schedule and a lengthening of the days the event will take place.
As opposed to the one-day spectacle of years past, this year the event will take place over a four-day period from April 20-23, allowing for greater flexibility and more input from professors and volunteers all around.
Faculty supervisor Dr. Deborah Fratz said, “It’s a great way to show off the variety of skills and interests that there are on this campus.”
The activities and classes range anywhere from 30 minutes to four hours with the student able to freely pick and choose which ones they wish to attend and which they find most interesting. If it doesn’t fit in their schedule, students can take another class.
“Some students were disappointed that they couldn’t attend the event last year because it took place only during their classes and so we thought that if we offered a variety across a number of days that it would offer more opportunities for students to participate,” said Tammy Davies, the event coordinator.
This year also features many other classes and activities that were not available last year such as potions (where you will be able to take your edible potion home with you), a mystery dinner, a horcrux hunt, a care of magical creatures class that teaches students how to take care of real owls and a wizard duel that will let you battle the other houses on the Nintendo Wii.
Another major event on the docket are the two fellowship breaks on the second and third days that is simply a half hour break where fans of the books can get together and discuss all things magical.
The final event is the end of the year feast where the winner of the house cup will be announced as well as the winners of other contests such as the fan fiction contest, the Tri-Wizard tournament and costume contest. The feast will be from 3:30 to 7 p.m. and be held at the Cravath Lake Community Center.
Other classes and workshops on the schedule include: being sorted into your house, care of magical creatures, transfiguration and defense against the dark arts, among many others. In order to find out what all of these classes entail, you’ll simply have to show up.
“Some of these instructors have been kind of secretive about their lecture,” Davies said. “For example, the defense against the dark arts teacher is refusing to tell me anything, so even I don’t know everything that is going to happen.”
