The University of Colorado Boulder’s administration and CU’s student government together spent $278,797 to curtail the 4/20 marijuana gathering on the CU-Boulder campus this year, according to figures released today by the university.

The administration spent $124,561 and the CU Student Government spent $154,236.

“I view the university’s commitment of $124,000 as an investment in the health, safety and conduct of basic academic business on the CU-Boulder campus,” said CU-Boulder Chancellor Philip DiStefano. “Our efforts were funded by insurance premium rebates that result from CU-Boulder’s reductions in liability and hazard claims, so no tuition dollars were applied to this expense.”

The student government portion was spent to fund a concert by hip-hop artist Wycleaf Jean. Those funds came from student fee reserves, so there will be no impact on CU-Boulder student fee structures next fall as a result of the expenses.

“We sought to give CU students an alternative activity to participate in 4/20,” said Carly Robinson, former student government vice president for internal affairs. “We know that maximum attendance at the show – about 1,200 – was lower than we hoped, but it was still four times larger than the 300 or so who participated in the smoke-out. I believe we made good on our pledge to the student body and took a major step toward ending 4/20.”

Monte Whaley: 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com