Crystal Rodriguez/The Mirror
On Wednesday, April 27, the fourth annual Jail n’ Bail fundraiser was held on campus, raising an unofficial estimated total of $19,000-$20,000 as donations continued to come in.
Last year, the total amounted to about $18,000. Todd Pelazza, the Director of Public Safety, explains that there was a fear that the fundraiser would not be as successful as last year; however, he noted that it was “very successful and accomplished the goal of fundraising and creating awareness about Special Olympics and the athletes involved.”
“I was so surprised by how real the whole process was!” said Molly Leidig ‘14. “I couldn’t believe real police arrested me and used real handcuffs!”
Reflecting on the occurrences of this year’s Jail n’ Bail compared to his previous three years, Tyron Shaw ’11 explains, “I thought a lot of people took it too seriously. It was supposed to be fun, but a lot of my friends were hiding out.”
There was a total of about 430 arrests of students, faculty, and staff. In addition to the officers making the arrests, twenty five Special Olympics athletes accompanied the officers in giving out warrants.
Evan D’Avrosca ’13 described the day as “mass hysteria meets police order.”
The University community played a large role in supporting the fundraiser. Judges included faculty and staff members ranging from professors to coaches. Public Safety also received support from many different law agencies. In addition to the large amounts of money donated, the tent and food served were also given to Fairfield. Student bands contributed to the excitement of the day by playing music on a stage set up near the jail cell in the traffic circle of the BCC.
Kristen Edwards ’11, one of the co-chairs for the event, stated, “I am just grateful for all the students that volunteered to be arrested or help to bail out their friends. Because of them, we have had a successful event for the 4th year in a row.”
Pelazza explained that he hopes that when people see pictures or hear about the day, they do not assume that people were really arrested. Instead, the event should be seen as “a community builder that brings the campus together.” Public Safety attempted to avoid taking students away from class and their studies. Pelazza stated that while Jail n’ Bail is a fun way to increase awareness for Special Olympics, it also allows “college-age people and police officers to do something together for fun and see each other in a different light.”
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