Not even a hurricane could come between Halloween and the roughly 1000 students who remained on campus.
After days of limited activity, campus came alive again on Wednesday evening with a variety of University-sponsored events to keep the remaining students on campus occupied and entertained during Halloween.
The biggest event on campus was “Karaoke Night” at the Levee, which doubled as a Halloween party complete with a costume contest. Although the night started out casually with about 30 students in attendance, the bar soon became crowded with students by around 10:30 p.m.
“We’re regulars here,” said Brianna Levick ’15, who attends karaoke night every Wednesday with her teammates on the Fairfield softball team. “We do like five songs a night.” This time, however, Levick and her teammates were in costume, trying to make the most of their Halloween in spite of the weather.
But many other students at the Levee were not as frequent participants of karaoke night as Levick and her teammates. A large number of attendees were displaced beach and Townhouse residents looking for something to do.
Senior Kristin Alexy is one student who lives in the Townhouses and said that, although she would not normally attend karaoke night, the Halloween event was a nice way to break up the boredom following Sandy. “Since I’m not allowed to go back to the Townhouse, it’s nice to get out of the BCC and stop crashing on people’s couches,” Alexy said.
Bartender Gabriel Sacco ‘13 noted the increased volume of students at the Levee Wednesday night, which he attributed to both the holiday and the hurricane. “[It’s busy] because it’s Halloween, there’s a costume contest tonight, but also the hurricane definitely affected it because the Grape’s not open,” Sacco said, referring to the popular off-campus bar.
Beach resident Matthew Coleman ‘13 was one of the many displaced upperclassmen who ended up at the Halloween party and had similar thoughts to Sacco. Coleman said about the Levee: “It’s the new Grape.”
As if to live up to its new title, the Levee transformed into a scene reminiscent of the movie “Animal House” by around 11 p.m. With beer flying everywhere and costumed undergrads singing and chanting while standing on the pool table, chairs and stage, the Levee began kicking out students and shutting down just before midnight.
A couple of residence halls also held their own programs for those who decided to stay away from the Levee on Wednesday night. Regis Hall hosted a Halloween-themed “What’s Good Wednesday,” a weekly community-building gathering that included food, costumes and a movie. Jogues Hall also screened the movies “Hocus Pocus” and “Crazy Stupid Love,” while the Resident Assistants in 70 McCormick went door-to-door handing out candy to the residents who remained in the building.
With many of the students gone, the Quad remained much quieter than previous Halloweens, according to Residence Life staff members. But the same cannot be said for the campus in general. Resident Assistants (RA) were busy breaking up parties in the Village and Dolan throughout the night, and eyewitnesses reported multiple students transported to local hospitals.
In an attempt to dissuade students from partying on Halloween, Vice President for Student Affairs Thomas Pellegrino had sent out an email to students early Wednesday evening addressing previous behavior during the storm.
Pellegrino wrote that he was “both surprised and disappointed” by some students who treated the hurricane as “an opportunity to get drunk–drunk to the point of requiring medical assistance from Public Safety and ultimately an ambulance ride to a local hospital.”
Pellegrino then urged students to act responsibly and assured that “deviations from this most reasonable standard of behavior [would] be met with a heightened response from the University.”
After Halloween night’s shenanigans, Associate Director of the Department of Public Safety Frank Ficko also commented on the irresponsibility of the Fairfield students who participated in dangerous drinking during the storm and its aftermath.
“The first responders have really been taxed by this storm, and they don’t want to have to answer unnecessary calls,” Ficko said. “These guys have been needed elsewhere and have been working double and triple shifts.”
Ficko went on to say that requiring ambulance drivers and other first responders to attend to Fairfield students who did not make responsible choices on Halloween night meant taking help away from Fairfield residents still trying to cope with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.
In response to the events of Halloween night, Residence Life has issued strict rules regarding partying on campus this weekend.
All students were encouraged to go home if at all possible. For those who chose to remain, a zero tolerance policy has been placed on disruptive gatherings and irresponsible consumption of alcohol, regardless of the drinkers’ age.
“…if you have a loud room/apartment this weekend and there is alcohol present, even if you are 21 or older, we will be dumping out all of the alcohol in the room,” Daniel Santaniello ‘13, the Village Senior RA wrote in an email to his residents.
Santaniello went on to say that the need to enforce this rule is regrettable, but Residence Life has been “forced to do so by events that have taken place on campus.”
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