The Daily Campus

Issue date: 4/15/09 Section: Commentary

Spring Weekend is just around the corner and students are just starting to make plans with friends who want to come to UConn for the infamous weekend and partake in the spring's festivities.

While UConn students tend to stay on the quieter side during the weekend of mayhem, their friends from afar tend to leave all their responsibilities at their respective colleges and wreck havoc on UConn's campus. This year, rather than inviting 32 of your closest friends to indulge in the celebrations, consider keeping your guest list down to a minimum. Four close friends (maximum) should suffice.

Keep in mind that you are responsible for your guests and all of their actions, no matter how much you are actually involved and how inane those actions may be. 51 people were arrested on Spring Weekend in 2008, 30 of which were people who do not attend UConn. There will always be UConn students that get arrested for their actions, but they are certainly not the majority of the rabble-rousers.

Occasionally, kids from other schools will commute to UConn without a friend to stay with. They rely on a few dollars and good fortune, and hope to spend a weekend constantly intoxicated without consequence. These students tend to cause more problems than people's friends. In order to keep chaos down to a minimum, students should heed the advice to only invite a friend or two.

This year, the Spring Concert is not on Spring Weekend, which is another factor that contributes to the potential chaos this year. X-Lot is going to be flooded with people who may have otherwise gone to the concert. Those people may also have brought friends to the concert. Now, there will not only be a vast amount of UConn students drinking in X-Lot, but also random friends and family of students mulling around the parking lot. Some may be looking for a good time with their close friends, but there are always those looking for a fight. There are also those who are looking to have a good time initially, but when someone accidently knocks into them after they have consumed five beers, their personalities change and then a fight seems appealing. What do they care? They don't go to UConn, so they aren't at risk for losing housing. When UConn students get in trouble on campus they often say they aren't students here, that they are just visiting friends. If UConn students can use this as an excuse, so can students who are actually visiting.

So would-be Spring Weekend goers, do yourself a favor this year to defend the reputation of your one-day almamater and ensure the safety of the UConn campus and its students, and think before you invite your graduating class in high school - limit your guests and be considerate.

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