Jordan McBride

The News Journal

Discussions continue at the University of Delaware about moving spring break to coincide with other colleges'. School officials began exploring the change two weeks after a Skidmore College student fell to his death at a Newark party.

Many area universities, including Towson, Rutgers and the University of Maryland hold spring break the week of St. Patrick's Day. This year, UD's was the following week. Students from schools on break are known to come to UD for its St. Patrick's parties.

The decision was made by Provost Domenico Grasso, who is responsible for all academic activity and student life at UD. At a Faculty Senate meeting April 4 he announced that the university would be working with the Senate to consider changes to the spring break schedule. Any change that is approved would not affect the upcoming school year, multiple faculty senate members said.

A committee to examine a possible change includes representatives from the university, student body, Newark officials and a local business owner.

Grasso said the decision to rethink the schedule was partially motivated by other universities who had made similar changes.

The provost said he has heard rumors that UD has become a “destination school” for students from other schools who come to Newark to party during break.

“I’ve heard about this by word of mouth,” Grasso said, “so I want to see if it’s a true statement. If it is, what are the consequences? If there are serious consequences, how do we ameliorate them?”

On March 19, Willem Golden, who was a freshman at Skidmore College, fell 30 feet to his death from the roof of an unofficial fraternity house located at 153 W. Main St. in Newark.

Skidmore College was on spring break at the time.

Grasso referred to Golden’s death as a “significant tragedy,” but said that he was already considering moving UD’s spring break before it happened.

Robert Opila, a material sciences professor at UD and president of the Faculty Senate, was presiding over the April meeting when the provost made the announcement. Opila said that there were some objections from faculty members.

One, journalism professor Jesseka Kadylak, told UD’s student-run newspaper, The Review, that she was not in favor of changing the date.

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“As a professor I don’t know that that makes a lot of sense,” Kadylak said, “because how it is currently, it is kind of in the middle of the semester. So, it is a good time before kids get too anxious.”

Opila agreed, saying that the change could have a slightly negative effect on the students’ academics, because they would have to go from St. Patrick’s Day to the end of the semester without a break.

This year, UD’s spring break kicked off a little over a week after St. Patrick’s Day. Students at UD typically celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on the day that it actually falls upon, as well as on the Saturday that precedes or follows it.

Day drinking and outdoor parties are characteristic of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations at UD, as well as at colleges around the country.

In anticipation of this year’s St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, the Newark Police Department dispatched 23 additional officers on Saturday, March 12, and 22 additional officers on Saturday, March 19.

On March 12, 20 criminal arrests were made by Newark police. These arrests included charges for open containers, underage consumption and possession, disorderly conduct and noise violations.

On the following Saturday, city police made 58 criminal arrests. Additionally, 16 parties were dispersed and issued loud noise warnings.

UD’s police force made multiple arrests from Thursday, March 17, through Saturday.

Jordan Gonzalez, a senior at UD, said that he enjoys being at school for St. Patrick’s Day, but he understands why the school would consider moving spring break to coincide with the holiday.

He said he does not believe the change would have a profound impact on the campus.

“If we don’t have St. Patty’s Day while we are at school,” he said, “then everyone is just going to find another day to have an unofficial St. Patty’s Day. It’s all going to happen anyway.”

Keith Doggett, another UD senior, agreed with Gonzalez. He said that he does not believe the change will have the impact that the university intends.

“The school needs to make it less of a battle,” Doggett said, adding that he encourages the university to teach students to party in a safer way, instead of solely focusing on issuing arrests.

It is unclear when UD will reach a decision.

“Regardless of when UD has their spring break,” said Cpl. James Spadola of the Newark Police Department, “we will ensure our resources are allocated in the most efficient manner to provide the excellent level of police services that the citizens of Newark expect from us.”

Contact Jordan McBride at jmcbride@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @jordanlmcbride.