“One of the most fun experiences of my college career was May Day, 2004. House parties were peppered throughout the campus’s surrounding area. There were keggers, cookouts, police riding around on horses, roads closed off and tons of students walking around.”
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One of the most fun experiences of my college career was May Day, 2004.

House parties were peppered throughout the campus’s surrounding area. There were keggers, cookouts, police riding around on horses, roads closed off and tons of students walking around.

It was outstanding.

For one day, Akron felt like a college town. It had all the atmosphere of Athens or Columbus.

But that was three years ago. Each May Day since has been a colossal disappointment. My sophomore year, I walked around with my friends for about an hour and came up empty-handed.

Last year, I heard zero chatter about goings on and didn’t even bother going out.

What happened? Party throwers became frightened the police would ruin the fun.

I don’t blame the University of Akron Police Department. They want to avoid the May Days of the ’90s, where fighting and couch burning made headlines and embarrassed the university. The UAPD proactively crushed all hijinks with more officers than you knew existed.

I applaud that. Any one who gets out of line deserves to be arrested.

The onus of my message falls completely on students’ shoulders. They need to bring back May Day on Friday – a tamer, respectful May Day devoid of crime.

UA’s administration won’t like reading this because it took so much work to extinguish the destructive version of May Day. However, having one night of restricted insanity actually has benefits to campus.

Being a respectable party school actually helps enrollment. High school students want to get a quality education first (I hope, at least).

A distant objective is going to a campus where they can have fun and meet people.

My first May Day showed me as a freshman that UA can be just that.

On Friday, students need to show that spirit still exists.

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