As students kick off their St. Patrick’s Day festivities tomorrow adorned in green apparel and with pitchers of green beer in tow, members of the University’s Greek community will be working to promote safe behavior.
In an effort to prevent the potentially dangerous effects of alcohol on the annual holiday that’s known more for excessive drinking and partying than its religious roots, LSA junior Sean Jackson, president of the Interfraternity Council, said IFC developed a three-part prevention effort to aid students.
According to Jackson, members of the Interfraternal Development Council will serve as ambassadors, walking around the areas of Geddes, Hill and State Streets tomorrow in orange T-shirts, looking for unsafe behavior and providing assistance as needed. They will also hand out bottled water and fliers with important safety and emergency contact information.
The junior members of IFC, who will be joined by members of the junior Panhellenic Association, received specific training from the Ann Arbor Police Department and University Health Services. During the training, ambassadors were taught how to recognize dangerous situations and evaluate intoxication levels.
They were also educated in alcohol safety and conflict resolution. IFC’s Social Responsibilities Committee — which works year-round to ensure events held by fraternities establish a safe environment — will also be part of tomorrow’s efforts.
Engineering junior Emily DeSanti, president of the Panhellenic Association, said Greek members will also be stationed in the Office of Greek Life in the Michigan Union throughout the day tomorrow. She said this will help Greek life members efficiently resolve any issues reported by ambassadors.
In addition to patrolling the streets, IFC, with the help of AAPD and UHS, composed a list of “St. Patrick’s Day Best Practices,” which will be distributed prior to tomorrow’s festivities and will be e-mailed to all IFC members today. These practices range from picking up trash throughout the day, to being mindful of noise levels and immediately attending to severely intoxicated guests.
Jackson described the final part of the plan as “food credits,” noting that IFC provided each fraternity with $100 to purchase food and water for those attending their parties. He said offering nourishment is essential for the safety of students who are drinking excessively.
IFC is also partnering with Domino’s Pizza, which will provide a discount to fraternities who choose to use their food credit to order pizza for their guests.
Jackson said this effort is not the first time IFC has collaborated with AAPD and UHS. In September, the fraternity developed a best practices list and provided food credits for the Michigan vs. Notre Dame night football game. Jackson said the success of this effort is what led IFC to take additional action on St. Patrick’s Day.
“We’ve always tried to keep St. Patrick’s Day in our minds as one of those days that we could do something for the community,” Jackson said. “Adding ambassadors is just another level of security we can give to our community members to help them out.”
Jackson added that the IFC executive board believes it is important to define safe and appropriate behavior, and teach students to recognize dangerous situations. He said Greek Life ambassadors will not be giving out punishments on St. Patrick’s Day, but rather informing the appropriate Greek Life executives to help resolve any potentially perilous issues.
“We’re looking forward to a successful day and hoping that everyone has a good time,” he said.
DeSanti said she thinks this initiative is a good way for members of the Greek community to show the city of Ann Arbor what it means to celebrate safely.
“I think it’s a great initiative for us … to take the time out of the holiday to make sure that other members are being safe,” she said. “I think it’s a good effort to make sure that not only the members of our community are being safe during this day but also the other students who are also in attendance at these events.”