Syracuse University began preparing itself for this year’s MayFest with a series of meetings last week. And the topic of interest right now is safety.

Administrators met with representatives from SU’s Student Association to discuss how to lure students away from the Euclid Avenue block party. SU’s Department of Public Safety met with the Syracuse Police Department Thursday to talk ground rules and protocol for the day, scheduled for April 21.

For Thomas Wolfe, senior vice president and dean of student affairs, safety is the primary concern. He said it’s not only up to the police to keep students out of trouble, but that the university needs to offer an appealing alternative to the drinking. He said he hopes students will attend the university’s programs, but at the same time, he’s realistic.

‘I would invite them to be fully involved in SU Showcase, because it’s a wonderful opportunity,’ Wolfe said. ‘But I understand these parties are going to take place. I would ask for us to think, in terms of being safe. I say that with all the care that I carry around with me for all our students. Keep safety in front.’

There will be consequences, Wolfe said, for students who fail to comply, and go against the Code of Student Conduct.

But last year, when 36 houses along Euclid Avenue hosted more than 2,500 students, police issued no citations. The university holiday was first held in May of 2005, moved to April in 2006 and gained its party reputation in 2007. The university renamed the event to SU Showcase this year, but SA still uses the term MayFest to refer to the Euclid Avenue activities.

‘Of course there was a certain degree of leniency,’ said Lt. Joe Cecile of the SPD.

Cecile said SPD and DPS met Thursday to evaluate last year’s event, and the departments decided it was a success. They’ll meet again Wednesday to decide how many officers they need to place in the area that day.

‘We’ll have officers out early in the morning until the night, interacting with students, letting them know the ground rules,’ Cecile said. ‘Mostly the same as last year.’

There are a few minor changes this year, Cecile said. Police will prohibit students from crossing the street with open containers, will place trash cans on every intersection of Euclid Avenue and will set up temporary stop signs to slow down traffic.

Police had a problem last year when a student set up a portable DJ stand and played live music, Cecile said. The crowd around the area grew too large and spilled into the street. This year, portable DJ stands won’t be allowed, he said.

Despite the safety concerns, Cecile said he thinks there is a way to have MayFest and not compromise student safety.

‘Only with enforcement. The only way to do this event is to have enforcement there,’ Cecile said.

Harry Lewis, secretary of the South East University Neighborhood Association, disagreed. He said the only way to keep students – and the neighborhood – safe is to have classes that day.

‘Have classes and end the whole thing. Chalk it up to a bad experience,’ Lewis said. ‘What the students do off campus, the university doesn’t give a damn about. Last year, with all the running back and forth, and all the policemen there, there were no arrests. Are you telling me there was no open container on the sidewalks?’

Lewis said he thinks police don’t make arrests because that could provoke a riot. He’s lived on Lancaster Avenue for 49 and a half years and said he has never been fond of the event. He worries for his neighborhood – children and pets don’t mix well with broken glass bottles.

‘If this were for just SU students, that’d be fine. But you’re sucking in all of the high schools kids in this area, along with the other colleges. It can become tricky,’ Lewis said.

And despite the event’s troubles, Lewis said the residents in the neighborhood enjoy living near students. They wouldn’t be here if they didn’t, he said. But for the students, Lewis said it’s a matter of growing up and learning to be adults.

‘We love having the students around. But we think the university might be able to come up with something better,’ Lewis said. ‘And we hope in the future they do.’

He said this year’s change to SU Showcase probably won’t have any effect on the Euclid Avenue parties. ‘The typical university act of changing names,’ he called it. But he said he does think the university is trying to do what’s right for students’ safety. Back in 1993, the university purchased from the city a few of the streets surrounding campus, so it could better protect students.

The first payment was $125,000 for six months of 1994, said Lewis, who also serves on the University Neighborhood Service Agreement Advisory Committee, which oversees the payments.

But the cost to the university has to rise with the inflation rate, and SU is currently paying $362,000 for the 2008-2009 fiscal year. Next year’s amount will be decided in April or May and will take effect in July, Lewis said.

The neighborhood patrol, which pays to put extra police in the area, receives $80,000 – or 22 percent – of that money. Lewis said MayFest uses up a lot of money for police that could be used on other occasions. The city also assigns more patrols for that day, over and above the UNSAAC money, Lewis said. Garbage trucks also come through every couple hours, funded by taxpayers’ money.

Wolfe said the university will always be improving its relationship with the local community.

‘We want to be good neighbors with the permanent residents that surround the university,’ Wolfe said. ‘It’s important that we be mindful, watch out for each other and have safety in the front of our minds.’

Larry Seivert, the president of Student Association, said he is also focusing on how to respect the local residents. But he said reinstating classes that day wouldn’t be the right solution. Students would still take the day off and head over to Euclid Avenue, he said.

SA hosted a ‘Save MayFest’ forum Feb. 12, in an attempt to preserve the university tradition. He said it’s clear that the university is trying to bring more to the day for students but couldn’t anticipate how much success it would have. SA has its own concerns, including student safety, Seivert said.

‘I want to make sure students are being represented and working with the university, because I recognize that a large factor in all this is dealing with the local community,’ Seivert said.

Lewis, of SEUNA, said he’s waiting to see if the university’s changes will have an effect. He still has his doubts, he said, especially after he’s heard of students planning to set up a petting zoo in their backyard. He said he hopes something changes, but that the only two solutions he sees right now are reinstating classes and the weather.

‘The good Lord could act very well on that,’ Lewis joked, ‘and have a rainy day.’

shmelike@syr.edu

Published on March 1, 2009 at 12:00 pm