Spring weekend is beginning on the UConn campus in Storrs and police are stepping up security to ensure that things don't get out of hand.
Spring weekend has been a four-day party for UConn students in the past and it’s expected to be the same this year.
While many students have worked hard to develop fun and safe events, police say some people often cause a problem, usually with alcohol and inappropriate behavior. In 2009, Spring Weekend cost local, school and state police $225,000, Mansfield Today reports.
To prevent problems, campus police are setting up DUI checkpoints, blocking parking lots and closing road from Thursday until the end of the weekend.
Anyone caught disobeying the law, is subject to arrest.
Local officials have been preparing and one strategy is to make it near impossible to park on campus, Mansfield Today reports.
“The intent is not to keep people [out] who belong on campus, but to discourage people who come onto campus and cause problems,” Stephen Rhodes, Executive Assistant to the UConn President, told Mansfield Today.
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Police advise people at UConn to avoid poor choices that could derail your college career.
The editorial board of the school paper,the Daily Campus, ran an editorial relaying the same message:
The UConn student body is so fortunate to have this connection. We should be sure not to ruin that spirit with violence and carelessness. Generally, UConn students are not the ones who cause trouble on Spring Weekend, but it does happen. Rather than thinking of the three days as an excuse to drink and ignore the law, remember that you can just as easily get in trouble on that weekend as you can on any other.
