A Sober Spring Weekend

UConn has its own police department which teamed up
with the State police
police.uconn.edu

This weekend is an interesting one in the UConn calendar, Spring Weekend. For years past it has been celebrated with lots of alcohol, lots of partying and... well you know the deal! Emerging in the 60s, people flocked to campus from all over for the renowned party scene. That was until two years ago: in 2010 the weekend saw 84 student arrests and the tragic death of a UConn student.  As a result, the university and UConn Police are desperately trying to shut down Spring Weekend. So, this year there have been a number of new rules put in place. There are strict guest policies restricting people from moving amongst the other residence halls after 10pm. The police are blocking all entrances to the campus and checking everybody's UConn ids to ensure that only students are entering the campus and nearly everything has shut. The library is only opened for restricted hours, the gym is closed, even the Student Union is closing early. Campus is dead.

My UConn id; without one of these
you can't go anywhere over Spring Weekend!

After going out for a lovely supper on Friday night, on returning to McMahon (our residence hall) Emily and I had to prove that we live here before we could enter. While I sat up reading last night, my room was spinning with the flickering blue lights from the numerous police cars below. While I can completely understand the desire to control what had become, by the sounds of it, a dangerous level of disorderly behaviour I think UConn are doing themselves more harm than good. Surely by limiting students from doing anything at all, even going to the gym or the library (1 week before Finals I might add!) they leave no choice but for students to go out and party! And while I understand the need to restrict non-students coming on to campus (the ones who had caused all the trouble) this shouldn't stop actual UConn students from enjoying what had become a yearly tradition.

The weekend has passed seemingly uneventfully. In fact the Police have praised themselves for what they called "an uncharacteristically quiet Spring Weekend"1 with there apparently being only 6 arrests (apparently that's the average!). I, on the other hand, spent my Saturday night gorging myself on Wings, chips (/fries) and popcorn, and watching The Social Network. It was great.


1 http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/The-Spring-Weekend-That-Wasnt-148434375.html