You awaken laying face down on the Lakefill grass, sandalled feet shuffling around you. Rolling over, you notice the almost-empty Mountain Dew bottle you filled with vodka three hours earlier and it suddenly becomes clear how you passed out before the opening act took the stage on Dillo Day.
With your friends nowhere in sight, a University Police officer approaches you to inquire about your condition. A drunken and dehydration-induced rage sets in. In a slobbery yell, you accuse him of ruining your fun and proceed to punch him repeatedly in the kneecaps.
An hour later you find yourself locked up at the Evanston Police Department, charged with underage drinking and assaulting a police officer. Instead of grooving to the Crystal Method in the idyll of the Lakefill, you spend your day sharing a cell with that weirdo you read about in the Daily’s Blotter last week who was arrested for public masturbation.
OK, this story is extreme, but I tell it because I’m worried.
I’m concerned my fellow revelers won’t understand the level of campus-area law enforcement Saturday and will end up with housing probation, costly tickets or even jail time.
UP officers, in both plain clothes and uniforms, will patrol the fraternity and sorority quads, as well as check backpacks and bags on the Lakefill, said University Assistant Chief of Police Daniel McAleer. Officers will issue $75 tickets for anyone drinking in public, regardless of age.
“If you’re out on Dillo Day and you think you’re going to go use illegal substances in the open, that would not be a good idea if you want to avoid (getting a) career criminal record,” McAleer said.
The solution: Do your drinking behind closed doors, with friends who can take care of anyone who has had too much. Don’t pre-party to the point of sickness and stumble home throughout the day if you need another cocktail.
And don’t think you can foil UP’s finest by swilling your rum and Coke from a plastic bottle.
“The officer always has the discretion to go and find out what you’re drinking if they feel that they want to,” McAleer said.
In addition to writing up booze violations, UP generally makes several drug-related arrests on Dillo Day. Getting caught with illegal drugs will get you arrested, even if it’s just small amounts of marijuana. You could be charged with a felony and held in jail until a Tuesday if it’s something harder.
UP urges students to cooperate if approached by an officer. I concur — if you think the ticket isn’t valid, pocket it and argue your case in court. I have a friend who was thrown in the back of an Evanston police van for arguing with a cop and calling him a dirty name.
Students thinking of escaping UP’s watchful eye also need to exercise caution when crossing Sheridan Road to party. Like every other day of the year, EPD officers will respond to noise complaints, break up parties and arrest students off campus if deemed appropriate.
In addition to of swarms of police regulating fun in the quads and on the Lakefill, representatives from NU’s Undergraduate Residential Life and Greek Affairs offices will patrol campus, documenting underage drinking and unregistered, illegal events at Greek houses.
Don’t think it will be safe to drink at the early morning tailgates just because your beer is in a red cup. Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic Association risk management patrollers can report underage drinking to Residential Life, who can impose housing probation and require alcohol education.
In short, alcohol and drugs make you a target for police and university scrutiny, especially on Dillo Day.
Know the risks, party safe and try to stay out of jail.
Assistant City Editor Evan Hessel is a Medill senior. He can be reached at [email protected].
