Illini Media
WPGU
buzz
Illio
TechnographUnofficial housing policy is dangerous
Posted: 2/27/08 Section: Editorials
They are coming.
From all over Illinois, the Midwest and both coasts, alumni and friends of current students will descend on campus to celebrate Unofficial St. Patrick's Day. The event is the brainchild of local bar owner Scott Cochrane and has grown to be a big nuisance for the City of Champaign and the administration. But one new policy designed to reign it in will do more harm than good.
This weekend, all University residence halls have banned visitors. According to University housing, anyone who cannot produce an iCard will be asked to leave.
Not only does this policy completely infringe on the rights of students who will not be celebrating Unofficial this weekend (and yes, they do exist, despite fear-mongering by the administration in the form of letters to parents), it will not produce a safer environment on campus.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with having an increased police presence across campus and heightened patrols by resident advisors and housing staff. But if this University is concerned about student safety during the "holiday," it would not restrict the number of people who could potentially be helped by these trained professionals.
Frankly, the administration has angered students by announcing the policy a mere week before the event. With thousands of students already having plans, it's likely that many of them will not change them out of spite. Visitors to campus for Unofficial that would have stayed with friends in supervised environments like the residence halls will no doubt move to apartments where there will be fewer sober people to take care of them if necessary.
Conversely, University residents who were going to host friends may just opt to spend the event in apartments too.
Since these residents tend to be freshmen and sophomores, they probably have less experience, poorer judgement and a greater need for a responsible figure to help them.
It's unfortunate that the University is fanning the flames of rebellion that Cochrane and other local bar owners know makes the event so popular in the first place. Deciding to make a big push on one weekend while maintaining a markedly less engaged approach the rest of the year sends a mixed message, one that will likely never be mailed to parents.
The University does not have to endorse Unofficial, but it must do the right thing when it comes to keeping as many people safe as possible. Measures designed for good PR as much as they are for safety will not accomplish this goal and could very realistically make everyone worse off.
From all over Illinois, the Midwest and both coasts, alumni and friends of current students will descend on campus to celebrate Unofficial St. Patrick's Day. The event is the brainchild of local bar owner Scott Cochrane and has grown to be a big nuisance for the City of Champaign and the administration. But one new policy designed to reign it in will do more harm than good.
This weekend, all University residence halls have banned visitors. According to University housing, anyone who cannot produce an iCard will be asked to leave.
Not only does this policy completely infringe on the rights of students who will not be celebrating Unofficial this weekend (and yes, they do exist, despite fear-mongering by the administration in the form of letters to parents), it will not produce a safer environment on campus.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with having an increased police presence across campus and heightened patrols by resident advisors and housing staff. But if this University is concerned about student safety during the "holiday," it would not restrict the number of people who could potentially be helped by these trained professionals.
Frankly, the administration has angered students by announcing the policy a mere week before the event. With thousands of students already having plans, it's likely that many of them will not change them out of spite. Visitors to campus for Unofficial that would have stayed with friends in supervised environments like the residence halls will no doubt move to apartments where there will be fewer sober people to take care of them if necessary.
Conversely, University residents who were going to host friends may just opt to spend the event in apartments too.
Since these residents tend to be freshmen and sophomores, they probably have less experience, poorer judgement and a greater need for a responsible figure to help them.
It's unfortunate that the University is fanning the flames of rebellion that Cochrane and other local bar owners know makes the event so popular in the first place. Deciding to make a big push on one weekend while maintaining a markedly less engaged approach the rest of the year sends a mixed message, one that will likely never be mailed to parents.
The University does not have to endorse Unofficial, but it must do the right thing when it comes to keeping as many people safe as possible. Measures designed for good PR as much as they are for safety will not accomplish this goal and could very realistically make everyone worse off.
The Daily Illini encourages on-topic discussion through article commenting on its articles and blogs. It is our policy not to delete any comments based upon political or ideological point of view. However, we reserve the right to remove comments that are abusive, off-topic or use excessive foul language.
The posting of copyrighted material, including any and all content for which you are not the author, is illegal under Federal intellectual property laws. Such activity will not be tolerated. Comments containing copyrighted material will be removed, and continued violation of copyright law is grounds for being banned completely from commenting on DailyIllini.com.
If you feel any post meets these conditions or merits review, please e-mail our editors at meonline@dailyillini.com.
Viewing Comments 1 - 8 of 14
Samantha
posted 2/27/08 @ 9:37 AM CST
I'm continually surprised at the low standards and poor judgment of the DI. The editorial board is claiming that the University has a responsibility to take care of foolish underclassmen and their drunk friends. (Continued…)
Josh
posted 2/27/08 @ 11:16 AM CST
Another issue is this could potentially encourage drunk driving.
people will come into town for Unofficial, if they have nowhere to stay, they will leave (probably drunk). (Continued…)
Biff Murdock
posted 2/27/08 @ 2:40 PM CST
Letting random (drunk) strangers into residence halls is a bad idea.
Allowing anyone who wants to crash out in a dorm do so would lead to an increase in rape, robbery and assault. (Continued…)
Brad Rodgers
Brad Rodgers
posted 2/27/08 @ 3:30 PM CST
[QUOTE id="0ce89968-bd1f-49e7-aab5-eff6d75b21df"]Letting random (drunk) strangers into residence halls is a bad idea.
Allowing anyone who wants to crash out in a dorm do so would lead to an increase in rape, robbery and assault. (Continued…)
Colin
posted 2/27/08 @ 4:52 PM CST
These new laws are ridiculous. Think about this. With more drunk kids out on the street wandering around, more kids will get drinking tickets. This generates more money for the city and the university. (Continued…)
Emma
posted 2/27/08 @ 5:32 PM CST
It's true that the University has a responsibility to protect students, especially students in the dorms-- its own. Why should the University be held potentially liable for injuries inflicted or sustained by hordes of intoxicated guests?
That these guests are known to someone in the dorm isn't good enough; it's been noted elsewhere that guests from out of town are responsible for much of the damage and poor behavior for which Unofficial is unfortunately becoming known. (Continued…)
Publius
posted 2/28/08 @ 12:01 AM CST
I have a guest coming to visit me this weekend. This has been planned literally months in advance, and subsequently following weekends have been booked for both her and I, leaving no time to reschedule. (Continued…)
Sparky
posted 2/28/08 @ 1:55 AM CST
While I do think that the policy makes sense and that the University is just simply doing its best to protect its own students and not have to deal with the carnage, it's absolutely ridiculous that they notify us of this through an e-mail one week in advance. (Continued…)
Post a Comment