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While walking through campus recently, I heard some students talking about the approaching Halloween weekend. One student referred to the upcoming weekend as “epic.” Another student said he thought it would be the “sickest one ever,” and his friend said it would be “huge.”
I fear they could be right. Our recent out-of-control behavior seems to predict a huge, disastrous Halloween.
In previous years, the belligerent behavior associated with the downtown party scene seemed to slow down once the semester got going. This year, it hasn’t.
Police reports indicate that crime has actually been on the rise in the campus area. The Orion previously reported in one weekend police responded to 53 fights, 39 noise complaints and made 21 arrests.
If this is a sign of what is to come this weekend, we really need to re-examine our behavior before we let the mob mentality of the Halloween crowds take over.
Students need to think before they go out this weekend to stop this Halloween from becoming a new version of Pioneer Days. We need to act in a more responsible way than we have in the past and we really need to realize we are accountable for the havoc we create when carried away by the mob mentality.
If the last several months are any indication, Halloween could turn out to be regrettable.
This year we have already seen that Chico State students will take advantage of an opportunity to gather in large numbers.
During Labor Day weekend, more than 22,000 people floated down the Sacramento River. The same weekend, police were harassed and attacked by partygoers when they tried to break up a party of between 300 and 500 people.
Adding to the growing list of reasons why this Halloween could turn into a full-blown riot is that it falls on a Saturday. We can expect the partying will begin Thursday and probably continue until Monday. The furlough committee — in its infinite wisdom — made the Monday after Halloween a furlough day. This is the same mistake it made on Labor Day weekend, giving students an extra day off, which they will most likely use to continue partying.
Despite all the indicators pointing at disaster, students have the power to make sure Halloween remains fun without turning into an angry mob of couch-burning drunks. We need to make sure we keep the crowds as small as we can. Don’t invite all your friends from all over the state to Chico for Halloween. If you’re throwing a party, don’t make it a huge, open party. Instead, invite a small number of friends and control the amount of alcohol being served.
If you are going out on Halloween, make plans. Have a detailed idea of where you are going and whom you will be going with. Don’t just go downtown and follow the crowds hoping to find a cool party. That’s how streets become crowded and how mobs form and riots begin. When thousands of masked, drunk strangers fill the streets, they may lose all sense of accountability as the mob mentality takes over.
Above all, we need to make better choices than we have made in the past. We need to ask ourselves if we are willing to damage our community and reputation for several hours of partying.
Christian Gutierrez can be reached at
cgutierrez@theorion.com
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