UD: Moving spring break wouldn't slow St. Patrick's party

Moving the University of Delaware's spring break to coincide with St. Patrick's Day would be academically detrimental to students while not doing enough to reduce student partying around the March holiday, a study by university officials found.

The study was ordered in part as a response to a Skidmore College student who fatally fell from a West Main Street roof while celebrating St. Patrick's Day at the university during his school's spring break.

A committee comprised of university officials, city leaders, a local business owner and students studied crime data from a number of major party holidays, looked at what other schools do and listened to student opinions as part of the study. 

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"We didn’t hear any consistent support for the move from students and faculty," said Kathleen Kerr, executive director of Residence Life and Housing at the university and the chair of the committee. "We heard from students: 'If you change it, we will just find some other day to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day."

Many area universities, including Towson, Rutgers and the University of Maryland hold spring break the week of St. Patrick's Day. This year, UD's was the following week. Students from schools on break are known to come to UD for its St. Patrick's parties.

But police data illustrated that St. Patrick's Day isn't a bigger problem than any other holiday, and there is not strong evidence to show a rash of non-university students being arrested for alcohol offenses during the holiday, Kerr said.

Also, many faculty members felt the change would create an academic problem because the semester does not begin until early February.

"Some faculty felt it would have made spring break too early before students needed a break," Kerr said.

The committee ultimately recommended against changing spring break and instead said the university should continue efforts to decrease excessive drinking throughout the year.

"Culturally, how can we move the needle to help students make better decisions on all holidays?" Kerr said.

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The committee made a handful of recommendations to answer that question. Their thoughts included creating a new, non-alcohol-centric tradition for students on St. Patrick's Day as well as increasing police activity on the holiday. 

As expected, Newark does see an upswing in alcohol-related offenses during the holiday with day drinking and house parties in full swing. 

In anticipation of this year’s St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, the Newark Police Department dispatched 23 additional officers on Saturday, March 12, and 22 additional officers on Saturday, March 19.

On March 12, 20 criminal arrests were made by Newark police. These arrests included charges for open containers, underage consumption and possession, disorderly conduct and noise violations.

On the following Saturday, city police made 58 criminal arrests. Additionally, 16 parties were dispersed and issued loud noise warnings.

Newark Police spokesman Lt. Bill Hargrove said his department respects the decision not to move the break. 

"It doesn't change anything for us," Hargrove said.