Unofficial Party
Updated: March 5, 2007
The Unofficial party is well underway on the University of Illinois campus and police are keeping busy. Police say the day started off calm compared to years past, but activity is picking up. Officers think the cold weather kept people in this morning and now that the alcohol is kicking in, trouble is too. Outside the bars and inside the bars...
Everywhere you look on the University of Illinois campus, there's green. Why you ask?
Noah Reinisch, a student from another University, says because "it's a national holiday".
Well, not so much. But don't sell the day short. It does draw in people from across the country.
Michael Doyle is from Western Michigan University. He says, "we drove 6 hours out here just for the trip for unofficial. We're on spring break right now so we thought we decided to come down here and party."
And Kalman Huettl is from Baloit college in Wisconsin. He says, "our college is actually more focused on academics than partying so we wanted to come here to party"
But, the U of I is focused on academics....and the University wants to make sure the drink-fest doesn't interfere.
Associate Chancellor, Robin Kaler, says, "we don't condone it, we certainly don't support it. We can't stop it. What we can do is make sure people do not disrupt our classrooms."
That's why this year, the University has security for the large lecture halls.
Sophomore, Danielle Ruiz, was surprised the security guards made her finish her yogurt before walking into class.
"I walk in and they say open my coat right away, and I just bought this and they said I had to throw it away before I go in."
A minor inconvenience, for those students who actually showed up to class. One lecture usually has about 600 students, but today only about 100 showed up. Classmates assume the rest are out celebrating the Irish.
And it's a celebration that for some...ended before they even left the bars...
The University says its safety measures must have worked. The chancellors office says security guards helped keep classes in order. And really the only incident they had in their buildings. was a student who passed out in the bathroom.
