The City of Champaign has released emergency rules that will govern Unofficial St. Patrick’s Day, planned for March 5 on the Illinois campus.

Bars in the campus area must raise their minimum entry age from 19 to 21 during Unofficial, and they must also have a doorman aged 21 or older checking identification at the entrance. … The mayor’s office will not issue any keg permits for private parties, making it illegal to possess more than one keg per residence. … Last year, Champaign police issued 351 citations on Unofficial, and spent more than $13,000 on police overtime, Champaign police Lt. Brad Yohnka said Friday.

News-Gazette: Emergency rules announced for “Unofficial” in Champaign

No matter what you do on Unofficial, be responsible and be safe.

Unofficial is a holiday at the University of Illinois that students celebrate 1-2 weeks before St. Patrick’s Day. Created because St. Patrick’s Day often falls during Spring Break, it is a celebration that closely resembles St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in other cities: green clothing, green beer, and greetings of “top of the morning to ye’.”

The date of Unofficial 2010 will be March 5, 2010.

Recently, Unofficial celebrations have taken on a negative connotation. As Urban Dictionary puts it, “The day is marked by bars opening at 8 in the morning, kegs on front lawns, students from nearly all surrounding schools flooding the campus to celebrate by drinking obscene amounts of alcohol. It has been said that more drinking occurs on Unofficial at U of I than occurs at many other school’s entire years.”

Every year the issue becomes a hot-button issue on the Illinois campus around mid-February as the holiday approaches.

Parent Programs Office: Unofficial
The Quad: Irish Illini
Unofficial: U of I Wiki

Be sure to check back here for more information regarding Unofficial. Have some Unofficial news? Let us know in the comments.

Image courtesy Musebrarian (Creative Commons License).

Today, March 17th, is the real St. Patrick’s Day. Although we may celebrate this day with green beer and clever shirits, what do you actually know about St. Patrick?

“Well he was not a leprechaun who drank green beer or had a blarney stone or a pot of gold,” explains historian William Federer, who wrote St. Patrick: The Real History of His Life, From Tragedy to Triumph. “He was actually a missionary and he converted 120,000 druids from paganism to Christianity.”

In fact, Federer contends that in the fifth century A.D., Patrick did more than perhaps anyone in history to spread this new religion through Europe.

“He started over 300 churches and used the three-leafed clover to teach the [Holy] Trinity,” Federer says, noting that this teaching tool is now the symbol of St. Patrick’s Day and Ireland itself.

Patrick himself, though, was actually born in nearby Wales.

“Different Viking tribes began attacking and carrying away slaves, and Patrick was one of those carried away as a slave to Ireland,” says Federer. “He was there from 16 years old to 22 years old, when he had a dream in which he heard the Lord tell him to escape. So he did.”

“He went to the shore and, sure enough, there was a boat. He hopped aboard and hitchhiked his way across Europe and made his way back to Britain. His life was pretty uneventful until he was 40 years old, when he had another dream. That’s when things started to get interesting.”

That was when Patrick returned to Ireland as a missionary.

“His style was evangelism was to walk right into the smoky dens of these chieftans. The druids knew that this new religion was going to displace them, and so they tried killing him at least a dozen times. Once he was held for two weeks, and [the druid ruler] was holding him to kill him.”

But the chieftan instead spared Patrick and even gave him money to build his first church. For the rest of his life, Patrick preached about Jesus Christ, spread Christianity across the British Isles, and spoke out against slavery. Some historians even call him the world’s first abolitionist!

The Roman Catholic Church made him a saint in 664 A.D.

“It wasn’t until 1846, when there was a potato famine in Ireland, and millions of Irish Catholics came to America,” Federer says. “The Irish population went from two percent to 20 percent in just a decade. Half of New York City was now Roman Catholic Irish! The same thing happened in Boston, and there was an anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic, anti-Irish backlash.”

“When they had their first parade, it was more of a political statement. In Ireland, it didn’t matter how many of them there were, they didn’t have a voice in Parliament. But in America, when they had their first parade and 15,000 of them showed up, politicians in New York City said, ‘wait a minute, they haven’t decided who to vote for yet,’ so they decided to march with them.”

From those early parades, St. Patrick’s Day gained popularity as the Irish immigrants who celebrated it gained acceptance until finally both became the indispensible parts of American culture that they are today.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

The History of St. Patrick’s Day – MSNBC

Well, it’s official. Today is the day. An unofficial celebration of St. Patrick’s day began no doubt early this morning with the wearing of green and the drinkage of alcohol.

This day, as you know, has been riddled with controversy over the years. The university has tried every year to end the celebrations, but the students are relentless. One of the popular activities of Unofficial is to drink and go to class; even if you don’t have a class today. This year, the University will be taking guard at campus buildings to prevent “liquored learning.”

“It is surprising, to say the least, that students would actually decide to both celebrate ‘Unofficial’ and go to class. We do have kids who think they might want to do both,” said U. of I. spokeswoman Robin Kaler.

That’s where the administrators-turned-bouncers will step in. “We have people at the door who are trained at searching through backpacks,” Kaler said. “They will confiscate 50-gallon garbage cans full of this stuff.”

Some of the other preventative measures this year include the 21 age limit at campus bars and the limitation that bars cannot start serving alcohol until 11am. This is not likely to stop the spirit of the celebrating students who usually make-do at a local apartment.

Whatever your plans are this Unofficial, The Quad reminds you to keep it safe. Don’t drink and drive. Don’t drink and drum. Don’t drink and … well, just be safe.

Have a great Friday!

Check out The Quad’s complete coverage of Unofficial St. Patrick’s Day here.

A recent article in the News-Gazette outlined the strict enforcement and attempted non-promotion of this year’s Unoffical celebrations.

UI Assistant Police Chief Jeff Christensen said Unofficial is “not a welcome event.” The campus police will be working with the dean’s office, housing officials and others to prevent disruption of classes, he said. As with last year, the university will prohibit non-students from staying in the dorms…

“The cities and the state police and state agencies continue to be real partners in trying to address this,” University of Illinois Associate Chancellor Peg Rawles said. Rawles said officials hope people will lose interest in the event. “It is added expense in a difficult time and a diversion of public safety resources from the typical ways those resources are used. It’s a terrible drain,” Rawles said…

However, research has consistently shown that the public and college students themselves overestimate the frequency of binge drinking, partly because the events are often outdoors, he said.

Another factor may be media coverage of what is actually a minority of students.

That may compound problems by increasing pressure on those who would otherwise not participate, he said.

“People who aren’t (binge drinking) are less likely to display healthy behaviors because less-healthy behaviors appear to be more prevalent,” Haines said.

The article also outlines the many regulations:

— No nonstudent visitors or guests in UI dorms.

— No illegal parking; vehicles parked illegally during permitted hours or in rented spaces without a permit will be ticketed and may be towed.

— No sleeping in vehicles.

— Mandatory entry age 21 for bars in Champaign between Wright and State streets and Chalmers and Washington streets.

— No possession of kegs without a license and no more than one keg per permit.

— No possession of open alcohol in public.

— No alcohol served in glass bottles or mugs; drinks must be served in paper or plastic cups.

— No crowds over capacity limits in bars.

— No overcrowding of apartment balconies.

— No serving of alcohol before 11 a.m. on Friday, March 6.

— No pitchers of alcohol or shots of hard liquor.

— No cover charges for drinking on private property.

— No serving of alcohol to minors at private parties.

— No loud noise, nuisance or disorderly conduct.

— No speeding or driving under the influence of alcohol.

— No damage to property.

— No fights or battery.

What are your impressions of Unofficial? Is it a small event that is overhyped by the media? Will the new regulations impact your plans?

Irish Illini is the Irish student philanthropic group at the University of Illinois. They host many social events on campus, and are associated with St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, and the infamous Unofficial St. Patrick’s Day celebration.

It is a common misconception, however,  that the Irish Illini are the organizers of the tradition of Unofficial. “The main thing we do is sell t-shirts,” said Charlie Knibbs, Irish Illini President. “We call them the official unofficial t-shirts. The money goes to our charity events like Relay for Life and the St. Baldrick’s Foundation.” The local bars are actually the main source of Unofficial planning.

About two years ago Irish Illini was suspended as an RSO for “[advertising] the availability of alcohol for their members.” This left the group with a slightly tarnished reputation, but has been doing a lot of charity work recently to improve. “We do a blood drive every semester,” said Knibbs, “and for St. Baldrick’s our members are going to get donations to shave their heads.”

You can find the Irish Illini on their Facebook group and through their email listserv. Their Facebook group, with over 1000 members, is where members sign up to be on the listserv and plan future events.

This is the second in our series on Unofficial. Check back for more stories in the future.

NOTE: For Unofficial 2010, please see our updated post

Unofficial is a holiday at the University of Illinois that students celebrate 1-2 weeks before St. Patrick’s Day. Created because St. Patrick’s Day often falls during Spring Break, it is a celebration that closely resembles St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in other cities: green clothing, green beer, and greetings of “top of the morning to ye’.”

The date of Unofficial 2009 will be March 6, 2009.

Recently, Unofficial celebrations have taken on a negative connotation. As Urban Dictionary puts it, “The day is marked by bars opening at 8 in the morning, kegs on front lawns, students from nearly all surrounding schools flooding the campus to celebrate by drinking obscene amounts of alcohol. It has been said that more drinking occurs on Unofficial at U of I than occurs at many other school’s entire years.”

Every year the issue becomes a hot-button issue on the Illinois campus around mid-Febuary as the holiday approaches. Everyone has an opinion:
The News-Gazette: Unofficial Stories
The News-Gazette: Unofficial-ly Live – Not just the Irish Illini
The Online Gargoyle: Unofficial
The Daily Illini Letters to the Editor: Unofficial needs changes
The Daily Illini Letters to the Editor: Students should devote less energy to Unofficial
The Daily Illini Letters to the Editor: Unofficial promoter is disrespecting Irish culture

Be sure to check back here for more information regarding Unofficial, including an interview with the Irish Illini and an Unofficial Resource guide.

Image courtesy Musebrarian (Creative Commons License).

Students have been planning for weeks, their celebration of Unofficial St. Patrick’s Day at the University of Illinois. The event, known as the “Biggest Party in the Big Ten”, is the supposed work of local bar owner Scott Cochrane. The celebration encourages 24-hours of “drinking till you’re Irish”. The day is marked by green shirts, green beer, and a loads of trash. Many students come from surrounding areas to join their friends in the celebration.

Multiple efforts have been made over the past month to prevent as many problems as possible, including a no-visitor act in the dorms and multiple emergency city orders regarding the selling of alcohol. The event has spawned a lot of debate between those who support the party and those who don’t. We’ve seen letters to parents and mass mails to students from the Chancellor regarding student activities on Unofficial. It is unclear at this time whether these new mandates will have any effect on this year’s celebration.

So whether you are going to drink today or not, have a great Friday. Be smart. Be safe.

The day-long St. Patrick’s Day celebration known as “Unofficial St. Patrick’s Day,” is less than a week away. As students are preparing their oh-so clever t-shirt designs, Mayor Jerry Schweighart of Champaign is initiating an “emergency order” regarding alcohol sales around campus town.

The order applies to this coming Friday and Saturday, Feb. 29-March 1, and is similar to the emergency order Schweighart, the city’s liquor commissioner, issued last year.
Highlights include:
– Restaurants and bars in the campus area won’t be able to serve alcohol until 11 a.m.
– Sales of pitchers of beer or other alcoholic drinks, as well as shots of hard liquor, won’t be allowed in the campus area.
– All drinks will have to be served in paper or plastic cups.
– All campus bars must have a doorman, age 21 or older, present and checking identification at all entrances during the bar’s hours of operation.
– The mayor’s office won’t issue any keg permits for parties, meaning it will be illegal to have more than one keg per residence during the two-day event.
– For package liquor stores, customers will have to fill out an “adult responsibility form” that the liquor store must keep on file. Filling out the form will be required for anyone purchasing one keg; 168 (seven cases) or more 12-ounce containers of beer or malt beverages; or 24 or more one-liter bottles of hard liquor.

Officials also warn that there will be an excess of police patroling the area with a joint effort by the University police, Champaign Police, Urbana Police, and the Illinois State Police. Past festivities cost a UI alum her life in a motorcycle accident, while police arrested 159 individuals on “Unofficial” related charges. University Police calls for service increased 58 percent during the day (7 a.m. to 4 p.m.), Champaign Police experienced a 42 percent increase and the estimate of the increase in costs for city, university and state public safety officials was $10,000 on that day, according to a letter from Kris Fitzpatrick of the University of Illinois Police.

The News-Gazette – Champaign mayor sets Unofficial St. Patrick’s Day rules
Moms’ and Dads’ Association – “Unofficial” St. Patrick’s Day

Stay attentive to The Quad for our increased coverage of “Unofficial St. Patrick’s Day”.

Photo courtesy of the Daily Illini