Swapping classes on click with jQuery, by using elements class

Question

I have written this simple bit of jQuery that swaps out the containing ul's class based on which contained anchor is clicked. It's working fine, but, I know this is messy. I was wondering if someone could point out a way to do this same effect without having to manually enter each class name. I am just a jQuery newb and am looking to learn more about it.

I imagine the there is a jQuery function I could write that wouldn't involve manually inserting every class name, but one that could just take the anchor tag's class and slap it onto the ul.

The jQuery

$("#infosplashnav a.news").click(function () { 
  $(this).parents("ul:eq(0)").removeClass();
  $(this).parents("ul:eq(0)").addClass("news");
});
$("#infosplashnav a.communitylife").click(function () { 
  $(this).parents("ul:eq(0)").removeClass();
  $(this).parents("ul:eq(0)").addClass("communitylife");
});
$("#infosplashnav a.youth").click(function () { 
  $(this).parents("ul:eq(0)").removeClass();
  $(this).parents("ul:eq(0)").addClass("youth");
});

The HTML

<ul id="infosplashnav" class="news">
     <li><a href="#news" class="news">News &amp; Events</a></li>
     <li><a href="#communitylife" class="communitylife">Community Life</a></li>
     <li><a href="#youth" class="youth">Youth</a></li>
</ul>

Answer 1

You could do something like this:

classNames = ["news", "communityLife", "youth"];

$.each(classNames, function(n, className) {
  $("#infosplashnav a." + className).click(function () { 
    $(this).parents("ul:eq(0)").removeClass();
    $(this).parents("ul:eq(0)").addClass(className);
  });
});

Answer 2

Don't forget you can use chaining as well, so

$(this).parents("ul:eq(0)").removeClass();  
$(this).parents("ul:eq(0)").addClass("news");

Can become:

$(this).parents("ul:eq(0)").removeClass().addClass("news");

Answer 3

$("#infosplashnav a").click(function () { 
  $(this).closest("ul").removeClass().addClass($(this).attr("class"));
});