Saturday, October 30, 1999

Another October, another OU bash

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School braces for party with rules on access

BY MARK CURNUTTE
The Cincinnati Enquirer

        Ohio University again will force students to wear hospital-style identification wristbands to restrict access to dormitories this weekend during Athens' annual Halloween street party.

        The weekend party usually draws 30,000 people to a 2¹/₂-block stretch of Athens' main drag, Court Street. Even though most of the trouble is caused by visitors, say Athens police, beefed-up security and cleanup costs have reached $100,000 for the university.

1998 ARRESTS

The majority of arrests at the annual Halloween street party in Athens are not Ohio University students.   Here's a breakdown of the 98 arrests in 1998:   • 34 — Non-college students living outside of Athens.   • 21 — Ohio University students (most arrests were for under-age drinking).   • 16 — Students from other colleges in Ohio.   • 11 — Students from out-of-state colleges.   • 10 — Residents of the Athens area (not OU students).   • 4 — High school students.   • 1 — Non-Ohio resident (non-student).   • 1 — Unknown.   Source: Athens Police Department

        Last year, the university introduced the wristbands among other safety measures that will be in place today and Sunday: Students living in residence halls will be allowed one guest — who must be registered in advance — for the weekend, and parking on campus will be limited to students with parking tags.

        The event is sponsored by the city of Athens.

        “Halloween has become something of a tradition in Athens, and while the focal point can too often be alcohol consumption by our students, we are resolved to intensify our efforts to promote personal responsibility and accountability,” OU President Robert Glidden said. “I am confident our students will make wise and appropriate choices.”

        A street party celebrating Halloween in the southeast Ohio city began informally in 1974 when a student costume-contest at a Court Street bar spilled into the street.

        Arrests related to the event almost doubled from 1990 to 1997, when 199 people were taken into custody, according to OU officials and Associated Press reports. The majority were alcohol-related.

        Hailed in the 1970s as one of the nation's top party schools by Playboy magazine, OU has made strides in recent years in its struggle to shed its Animal House image.

        Some students and administrators say events such as the street party can overshadow recent gains in building the academic reputation of the school, which counts 1,600 of its 19,400 students and more than 5,500 alumni from Greater Cincinnati.

        Ohio University has a retention rate of about 85 percent, an average GPA of 3.1 and a 70 percent graduation rate that is among the highest in Division 1 NCAA institutions, and some 13,000 students apply for incoming classes of about 3,400.

        But problems in Athens haven't been confined to Halloween weekend.

        The party-school label was stuck on OU again in April 1998 when 2,000 people — mostly OU students — clashed with police on Court Street after the bars closed early for daylight-saving time.

        More than two dozen were arrested and two officers slightly injured.

       

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