Top of the morning: Students begin drinking before noon on St. Patrick's Day
When Thaddeus Wasilewski turned on his truck headlights at 7 a.m. on his way to breakfast Thursday morning, he noticed that while it was too early for the sun to be out, it wasn't too early for students to begin drinking on St. Patrick's Day.
Before sunrise, Wasilewski saw beers in the hands of students walking out of their apartments.
By noon, numerous houses were filled with green-clad students clutching porch railings with one hand and holding a beer in the other.
“The people drinking that early were probably asleep by noon,” said the Linden junior. “St. Patrick’s Day is a valued day for drinking and recreational partying at CMU. People have a good time, regardless of the weather or classes.”
Despite scattered rain showers and an average temperature of 42 degrees, Carmen White, a sociology faculty member said she's never seen attendance as bad as it was this year.
White has been teaching at CMU since 1997.
Her 11 a.m. class' attendance wasn't abnormal, she said. But by 2 p.m. it was abysmal.
"Last year I hadn't noticed it to be as significant," White said. "I forgot it was St. Patrick's Day. It hasn't been a problem (in the past) to the same degree as I see it now."
Last year, White noticed more students roaming campus on their way to houses north of campus or downtown bars. While she said students can have drinks after class, she thinks it's unnecessary to make the holiday an all-day celebration.
"Skipping class to make the whole day a day of drinking is not a good thing," she said. "I'm certainly not treating it like a holiday. They're going to have to make up the work."
With heavy foot traffic just north of campus, streets north of campus were quickly filled by a sea of green.
If you walked down Main Street on Thursday afternoon, you might have encountered large groups of students decked out in green and gold beads shouting "take a shot" as a student wearing a costume leprechaun beard smoked a cigarette in front of a house with loud music echoing out its open door.
Livonia junior Tayla Heller noticed an increase in students out at parties this years. CMU students, as well as friends who visit from other universities, make St. Patrick's Day eventful each year, she said.
“My best friend texted me asking if I was ready at 9 a.m. I’ve been drinking since then and I’ve been out since (noon),” Heller said. “I think it’s fun. I’m Irish and never thought anything of the holiday, but since I came to college, it’s been hype.”
While she hadn’t seen a noticeable police presence, she said she sometimes feels like police officers are more concerned with giving MIP tickets than student safety.
This holiday, police were busier more at night than during the day. Mount Pleasant Police Officer Jeff Browne said crime was consistent with what the department expects. It's a day they prepare for, with 15 officers on duty instead of the usual 10.
"The complaint load picked up for us in the afternoon, and then at 3 and 4 in the morning," Browne said.
Overall, city police wrote 22 citations for various offenses, arrested eight people and received 158 calls for service. Arrests and calls to police were slightly fewer than last year.
White Lake sophomore Darcy Hansard noticed several patrol cars north of campus.
She said there appeared to be more parties this year compared to previous years.
“Especially on north campus there’s a lot of police. That’s where the parties are, so that’s where the police will be,” Hansard said.
Hansard and her friend went to O’Kelley’s Sports Bar and Grill at 11 a.m. and said many students were already “super intoxicated."
She said because she was sober at the time, it was entertaining to see everyone drunkenly socialize.
“Parties will be going on all day, but the people who go to the bars will probably be done early,” Hansard said. “Fire up or transfer. If you’re not ready to party in any sort of weather, you can transfer.”
There wasn't a shortage of fired up students.
A broken traffic light laid in the middle of a sidewalk in front of a house north of campus swarming with students. Some students stood on the porch of the home, red solo cups in hand as they laughed and pointed at the shattered light.
A student stumbled down the steps of the porch, tripping over the last step. He slowly pushed himself back up before walking over to the broken traffic light. He grabbed it by the frayed cord and began to drag it toward the house, a drunken attempt at both entertaining his friends and keeping the property clean.
City residents who live on the streets north of campus have become accustomed to the antics of St. Patrick's Day.
"I don't mind as long as everything is under control and not in people's yard," said Mount Pleasant resident Brian Hansen. "If they maintain control of themselves, I don't have a problem with it since it's a college town and pretty expected."
He looked out the window of his home to see a student urinating in his yard during a previous St. Patrick's Day.
Hansen called the police to get the person to leave.
"I haven't seen much in the past few years. It used to be a lot worse five years ago," Hansen said.
On campus, Assistant Director of Residence Life Douglas Kendrick said the atmosphere was relatively mellow.
Side doors were locked at 8 p.m. — two hours earlier than usual — in Calkins, Larzelere and Trout residence halls because of the close proximity with off-campus housing and partying, Kendrick said.
"(Locking the side doors early) has been a common practice on north campus and sometimes is also done on Welcome Weekend," Kendrick said. "It's a judgment call within the area because of the heavy traffic of students. You want to make sure all of the people in (the residence halls) are supposed to be there."
CMU Police officers reported writing 11 citations and arrested four people for minor in possession. One drug citation was written for possession of marijuana on campus, and four were arrested for operating a vehicle while intoxicated.
News Editor Kate Carlson and Staff Reporter Johnathan Hogan also contributed to this article.
