As Halloween weekend fast approaches, many students are threatening to boycott the planned Saturday night State Street event, ""Freakfest,"" by doing their partying on State Street Friday night.
Partying Friday will show the mayor what happens when he denies us our right to party, right? Wrong. This is the spoiled and stubborn attitude that got restrictions placed on Halloween in the first place.
This Halloween is the perfect opportunity for UW-Madison students to prove they deserve the privileges of Halloween, instead of acting like children with an utter lack of self-control.
Students have proven during previous Halloweens that they are unable to control themselves by breaking windows, destroying public property and refusing to leave State Street when told. They continuously prove every weekend that they are unable to take care of themselves, drinking to the point of near-death and using up the police and emergency resources.
It is no wonder that Mayor Dave Cieslewicz put restrictions on this year's ""celebration."" Despite what students think, the mayor has other constituents. Business owners and taxpayers should not have to pay for the students' reckless behavior, and Mayor Dave's restrictions merely take steps to protect Madison citizens.
But many UW-Madison students do not like the idea of taking responsibility for their actions. Though in the past it was only a minority of students who caused property damage and incited riots, when students heard about the city's ""Freakfest"" restrictions, they did not try to come up with ways to punish only the irresponsible few or work to keep this from happening.
Instead, they raged against the mayor and the city. Moreover, students use a large portion of taxpayers' dollars through use of the police and emergency service necessary to protect and take care of intoxicated students.
Though it would not be asking too much to have students to pay a cover charge, limit State Street capacity, and have a curfew, the city decided to let the students have input and shape it into something both sides could be happy with.
The student-led Halloween Action Committee did an excellent job trying to find a compromise between students and the city, and even held a meeting, with Alds. Austin King, Dist. 8, and Mike Verveer, Dist. 4, in which students could attend and voice their opinion.
Despite the widespread student complaints and outrage, however, only 60 people showed up. It seems students would rather sit back and whine than actually take steps toward change.
This year is the perfect time for students to prove that they deserve the privilege of Halloween on State Street.
Instead of boycotting the event, they should attend and prove that they can compromise. Perhaps if they make this a successful event, the city will remove some restrictions.
As of Friday, however, only approximately 5,000 of the 80,000 tickets for the event had been sold.
Perhaps many students are planning to purchase their tickets the night of the event, but current attitudes seem to suggest that many will boycott the event, celebrating in other areas of campus.
This, however, will likely only make matters worse by creating more widespread damage and spreading the police force even thinner, forcing the city to take even more extreme measures in the future.
The UW-Madison student body is generally responsible and mature. Students look out for each other, and lend a hand whenever needed. However, all this seems to disintegrate on Halloween as we ""fight for our right to party.""
If we can keep a touch of this pleasant attitude during Halloween weekend, not only will we all be safer, but perhaps we will earn the right to party.
