Spring Break
Spring Weekend Tame For Students
Freesia Singngam
Issue date: 4/23/07 Section: News
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Police arrested 64 people in total between 4 p.m. Thursday and 8 a.m. Sunday. Out of those 64 arrests, only 19 were UConn students.
These arrests were made for charges including narcotics offenses, weapons offenses, criminal mischief, driving while under the influence (DUI), interfering with a police officer, assault, reckless endangerment and breach of peace, according to a press release from the UConn Division of Public Safety.
Police also issued 18 infractions for alcohol offenses, 37 motor vehicle infractions and five motor vehicle summonses in this same period.
The press release said that the weekend was "generally law abiding, as UConn police continued to aggressively enforce criminal offenses related to dangerous and destructive behavior with the intent of protecting the safety of the UConn community."
As the weather was warm and the nights were clear, the crowds were slightly larger than last year.
Major Steven Fields of the Connecticut State Police said he could not give an exact number of how many people were at X-Lot Saturday night, but he said it was "clearly more than 10,000" and the crowd was the around the same size each night.
Even with the crowds of people and the number of arrests, Fields and other police officers said that the parties were going fine each night they were interiewed.
"It just seems like there's some sort of an attitude change," Fields said Friday night at Celeron Square Apartments. "Less arrested, less injuries."
The police presence was substantial every night of spring weekend. Fields did not want to use numbers, but he said that the number of state police was "sufficient, more than 150, approximately."
At Celeron Square Apartments Friday, the night was going fine Fields said around 11 p.m.
People gathered both in and between the apartments. While the partiers stood around with their groups of friends, many people were on cell phones trying to locate their other friends in the dense crowds.
"I'm here because I'm looking for a good time," said Jessica Duda, a 4th-semester psychology major from Eastern Connecticut State University who was at Celeron Friday night. "I wanted to see all my friends."
"I think it's the one weekend everyone looks forward to since school begins," said Sarah Hills, a 4th-semeter sociology major from also Eastern Connecticut State University who was with Duda.
In comparison to the party at Celeron on Friday, the party at X-lot was just as large but more confined.
"Because it's a big huge open parking lot, it's easier to control," Fields said on Saturday night at X-lot. "Celeron is much more difficult."
Fields said that he has worked spring weekend for a few years and that the X-lot crowd was "very healthy."
Fields said there were "a lot of kids. So far they're relatively well-behaved."
A diverse crowd of partiers gathered at X-lot, standing around drinking, walking around to reunite with friends, showing public displays of affection with significant others and generally being amazed by the number of people who showed up for the party.
"This is awesome," said Chris Eggert, a graduate student from Germany studying music and English education. "It's overwhelming because I've never seen anything like this in Europe."
"I've already seen sweatshirts from five other schools, and I've only been here for a half an hour," said Carrie Mills, a 4th-semester exploratory major. "I think it's great that UConn throws such a great party that people come from hundreds of miles to come here."
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