The University of Colorado Boulder has been a reluctant home in past years to the largest gathering of people in the U.S who celebrate the many benefits and uses of marijuana on the infamous day of 4/20.
This 4/20, the University of Colorado Boulder has taken a different approach in the annual Mary Jane holiday. The University plans to shut down campus on Friday according to the Denver Post reports. CU- Boulder wants to no longer hold such types of “festivities” on campus, which has drawn nearly 10,000 people to Norlin Quad to light up 4/20 in recent years and instead providing a free concert by Wyclef Jean at the Coors Events Center.
CU- Boulder Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano made this statement about the reasons for employing such extreme measures to end the gathering via the school’s website:
The gathering disrupts teaching and research right in the heart of the campus. The size of the crowd has become unmanageable, and limits our faculty, staff and students from getting to class, entering buildings and doing their basic work. It needs to end.
In past years the school and local police decided to adopt a more mellow approach in handling the massive crowds during 4/20. They would leave the crowd alone but direct people in an orderly fashion on to the Norlin Quad to keep the public safe.
Courtney Rosenberg, Junior at the University of Colorado Boulder, stated:Last year, I stood in amazement. I just looked at the crowd of over 10,000 people gathered peacefully all together in one medium sized field. There were no fights, no broken bear bottles, no screaming, no anger, no rants or riots. It was just the gathering of people with a positive mindset.
In a letter written to The Denver Post, DiStefano goes further stating that marijuana celebration is far from a protest or demonstration and should not be treated as such. “If it is a protest, then every party on every college campus in America is a protest,” DiStefano writes.
More than 350 University of Colorado students have RSVP’d by Wednesday evening to a Facebook event, titled “ Stay Classy CU”, encouraging students to wear a suit and tie to campus and around Boulder on Friday to protest the 4/20 smokeout. Junior Andrew Trujillo who created the Facebook page states that the group is not meant to stand against legalization or the use of marijuana, but to encourage students no to use the substance in public, which gives employers and others a negative view of CU students.
According to KDVR, CU claims that the 4/20 event costs the university more than $50,000 in cleanup and safety. But, the entire Wyclef concert will cost Cu approximately $150,000, according to The Daily Camera.
Classes will continue as scheduled on April 20 and the campus will remain open to all CU- Boulder students, faculty and staff, but they will need their BuffOne ID cards to get on, and around the campus, a press release from CU- Boulder states. Police will be dispersed around campus and will have checkpoints set up at all major campus entry points. Anyone who is not a student, staff or faculty member will not be permitted on campus, and individuals found on campus without a BuffOne ID will be subject to a ticket for trespassing.
Norlin Quad, where the 4/20 smoke out is usually held, will be closed to all people, not just visitors, on April 20, and in order to make it clear that no one is welcome on the Norlin Lawn, a fish-based fertilizer will be dispersed over the quad that day, The Denver Post reports.
By: Andrea Marun
