Dayton Is Having Its Spring Break During St Paddy’s Day Next Year To Avoid Repeat Shenanigans

Socrates Johnson8 years ago

As reported yesterday, the University of Dayton had a full-on saturnalia of a St. Paddy’s Day this past weekend, complete with light property damage and not-so-peaceful interactions with a Dayton riot squad.

The Dayton powers that be didn’t think such an outward display of litness was all that neat, so they put their heads together to keep such shenanigans from going down in the future. Eventually, the eureka moment for UD’s administrators came in the form of a schedule change for next year. A spring break switcheroo, if you will.

From Dayton Daily News:

Next year students will again be on spring break and classes will resume on March 18, according to UD’s academic calendar. St. Patrick’s Day is always a factor in when to schedule spring break and because of Saturday’s incidents it likely will remain one, said vice president for student development Bill Fischer.

“That is an option that we are carefully looking at in the future, as well as other options…to avoid the escalation of this type of situation,” Fischer said. “So, all of this is on the table for further discussion.”

It wouldn’t be that much of a stretch to assume that administrators like Fischer and UD President Eric Spina — who expressed his disappointment in students via letter — are ultimately just pissed off at being made to look like idiots. They had pretty much made an official guarantee that the balls-to-the-wall revelry seen during St. Patrick’s Day 2013 would be nothing more than a distant memory. Not so, as it turns out.

Spina declined to comment on Monday but his letter drew a stark contrast to the hopeful words of administrators who spoke about preparations for St. Patrick’s Day on Wednesday. Just days before the holiday, UD police Chief Rodney Chatman said he believed students knew how to act and dean of students Christine Schramm said that the university was encouraging students to take part in activities without alcohol.

In preparation for the holiday, Chatman last week said “our students behave” and “they know their expectation” but on Monday he expressed disappointment.

“Overall I’m satisfied with the result but I’m disappointed in the behavior that elevated our response,” he said.

Though less violent and disruptive, Saturday’s incidents served as a reminder of the 2013 St. Patrick’s Day campus riot on its fifth anniversary.

Now, for those of you who may not be familiar with what went down in Dayton on March 17, 2013, here’s a brief recap.

God bless Dayton..

[via Dayton Daily News]

Image via Wikimedia Commons