ELAINE GU
Gargoyle assistant editor
Posted Thursday, Feb. 28, 2008

FRIDAY IS THE University of Illinois’ Unofficial St. Patrick’s Day celebration, also simply known as “Unofficial.”

So how does one celebrate Unofficial? Well, U of I students celebrate by getting drunk.

Unofficial was created by local bars to gain profit since St. Patrick's Day (March 17) falls during spring break. On Unofficial, most bars open by 11 a.m. to kick off the festivities. Students decked in bright green T-shirts skip class and flood into the bars to “get their party on.”

Typically celebrated the Friday before St. Patrick’s Day, Unofficial was moved up a week this year because it would otherwise fall on the same day as the annual Engineering Open House.

While I think it’s good that Unofficial and EOH will take place on different days (it’s probably not a good idea to have a bunch of drunk college students running around while people are visiting the campus), I don’t think that the U of I can just change the date of Unofficial.

After all, one can’t just move a date for a holiday. I mean, that’s like celebrating Christmas on Dec. 18. And the whole point of Unofficial is that it’s a precelebration of St. Patrick’s Day; most college students are probably not in the spirit to celebrate two weeks early.

I was in the lounge during lunch today when Assistant Principal Sue Kovacs came in and put up a sign informing students that they are not allowed to leave Uni’s campus on Friday. The initial reactions of the people around me were: “What! That’s ridiculous!” “I can’t believe they think we’re gonna go get drunk and come back to school.” And: “What if I want to get food? They can’t just keep us here!”

However, Kovacs’ e-mail stated the point of keeping students at Uni is to prevent them from getting hurt or harassed by intoxicated college students. She also said that students who wish to go on campus may do so at their own risk.

Personally, I think this precaution is a bit extreme. My friends and I have been on Green Street several times on Unofficial over the past few years and nothing remotely dangerous has ever happened to us. I remember seeing drunk college students in flocks of green calling out to each other and wobbling down the sidewalk, but I’ve never encountered any physical violence.

In addition, I think that as high school students, we all have the ability to take care ourselves. As long as we don’t go asking for trouble, it’s not likely that a drunk person would start attacking one of us.

I am not concerned about the drunk students walking on the sidewalks, but I am worried about the ones who are driving on the roads. In comparison to a drunk-driving accident, a brawl on Green Street seems relatively tame.

Parents and students who drive themselves to school need to take extra precaution when driving on campus, especially after school. Since most bars open in the morning, there will be many intoxicated drivers out on the roads by 4 p.m.

Drunk drivers pose a serious hazard to our safety. We’ve canceled school because of frigid temperatures; so if safety’s the main concern, doesn’t the possibility of being in a DUI accident also warrant a day off from school?

Note: An earlier version of this column was published as an entry in the Gargoyle staff blog.