Northwestern’s Mayfest will implement a new ID policy for this year’s Dillo Day that will restrict high school students from entering the concert if they are not registered NU guests or accompanied by an of-age family member.
This year, NU students and their guests will have to present one of three forms of identification at the entrances of Dillo Day: an NU WildCARD or other college ID, a photo ID that proves the student or guest is at least 19 years old or a wristband that shows the person is a guest of an NU student.
According to Michael Campos, Mayfest’s University Relations chair, the new ID policy resulted from the increasing number of underage attendees at Dillo Day.
“In the past few years, Dillo Day has experienced more and more of this problem where these unaffiliated high school students from the area around Evanston have been flooding the grounds and last year, it sort of came to a head,” the Weinberg senior said. “And this year, we’ve been working for several months to figure out an effective plan to deal with it.”
At last year’s festival, Mayfest co-chair Darrin Bedol said the police and NU administrators worried about underage individuals drinking and causing disruptions. The Communication senior added that Mayfest had to restrict access to the Lakefill to people 18 and older starting at 8 p.m. that year.
Dean of Students Burgwell Howard said during Dillo Day in 2010, NUPD issued 28 citations, 20 of which were given to non-University students. Out of 13 people NU had to transport to the hospital, five individuals were not affiliated with the University.
Last year, 63 citations were issued overall and 22 people were taken to the hospital, Howard said. A breakdown of which were University-affiliated or unaffiliated was not available.
“We want to make sure that it’s a positive experience for students and their guests,” Howard said. Howard said in prior years, some issues the University has encountered on Dillo Day are underage drinking by high school students, physical confrontations between students of rival high schools and students who get pushed into the barricades near the stage.
When high school students do suffer from accidents, whether or not they are alcohol-related, their lack of an affiliation with the University poses a problem, Howard said.
“When someone comes in and they don’t have any ID on them or they’re just wearing a New Trier (Township) High School jacket, we don’t know who to call,” he said.
Bedol also said because high school students are not University students, they do not get the same emails that Howard and Mayfest send in order to promote a safe Dillo Day.
“We just felt really uncomfortable with high school students who don’t receive any of our messaging about being safe and enjoying responsibly,” Bedol said.
Undergraduate students who live in on-campus housing can register one guest to enter their buildings during Dillo Day weekend, which runs from May 25 to May 27, according to an email from Director of Residential Life Mary Goldenberg.
However, students can bring more than one guest to the event itself. Guests with students living in on-campus housing will receive wristbands from University Residential Life, according to a Mayfest news release. Off-campus or Greek students can get wristbands for their guests from the Dean of Students’ office.
Those who wish to enter Dillo Day and are younger than 19 years of age must be accompanied by a family member who is at least 19, according to the news release.
“We still are very welcoming to the Evanston community on Dillo Day,” Campos said.
