Toning down the Blarney: Amherst, UMass officials develop plan to rein in March mayhem

AMHERST — Building on the success of their efforts to limit student rowdiness during the Super Bowl, University of Massachusetts officials are optimistic about their plans to manage what has become a bigger, rowdier event — the March weekend known as the Blarney Blowout.



“There’s a lot going on and we feel comfortable as we go into this event on March 7 we’re doing everything we can to prepare and have it be a successful day,” Town Manager John Musante said Wednesday.



Musante joined Enku Gelaye, UMass vice chancellor of student affairs and campus life, the chiefs of the Amherst and UMass police departments and the head of the UMass Student Government Association to discuss the plan for the March 7 event.



Most of their strategies come directly out of a report on last year’s event by former Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis, according to Gelaye. Following dozens of arrests from the 2014 Blarney Blowout, the university purchased the $160,000 report to aid in future responses to the event.



Blarney Blowout began in 1999 as a St. Patrick’s Day promotion for a downtown Amherst bar. The event quickly grew to involve more bars and thousands of students, along with hordes of out-of-town visitors. In 2014, police arrested 55 people, including 21 UMass students, and used 600 pepper-spray balls to disperse crowds.



Limiting guests



During last year’s Blarney Blowout, there were 7,000 registered guests on campus, according to the Davis report. This year, none will be allowed, according to Gelaye.



Between Thursday, March 5, and Monday, March 9, no out-of-town guests will be allowed, Gelaye said. On-campus students are allowed up to four guests in their rooms, but all must be current UMass students, including off-campus students.



Even though much of the Blarney mayhem has taken place off campus in the past, eliminating guests may still prevent some of the bad behavior by making it less convenient to come to the area, Gelaye said.



“People come specifically for this, knowing they have the ability to stay on campus,” Gelaye said. “Without that attraction ... we’ll make sure we don’t have that buildup in town.”



Gelaye added that parking in university lots would be strictly limited to those with campus permits and others would be towed.



The technique was used with success for the Super Bowl earlier this month. Guests, even other students living in different dorms, were prohibited from residence halls. Instead of the 15 arrests that took place following the 2013 Red Sox World Series win over St. Louis, there was only one arrest following this year’s Super Bowl.



Student involvement



Student Government Association President Vinayak Rao said one of the problems during past events is that no competing on-campus events took place to draw students away from the downtown bars.



To that end, the university is planning an on-campus concert at the Mullins Center on March 7. Officials have not yet determined who will be performing, but the potential artists were selected with student input, according to Rao.



Events at the dining halls and an outdoor barbecue also are planned, according to Gelaye.



Some students will also be among the crowd discouraging bad behavior, Rao said. Team Positive Presence, begun by two Student Government Association members, was active during the Super Bowl, he said.



The team consisted of about 30 students in distinctive blue jackets interacting with the crowd and moving students away from the largest gatherings, and it made a difference, according to Rao.



“It is different when you interact with a police officer versus a student that you may know yourself,” Rao said.



Police presence



Amherst Police Chief Scott Livingstone said the Amherst and UMass police departments have gone through training in crowd control, and have undergone joint training specifically related to the Blarney event.



Officers have been involved in field training, and administrators, including UMass Chief John Horvath have sat together to discuss plans for the event, Livingstone said, though he declined to offer specifics.



Both police departments will increase their presence, according to Livingstone. Other departments will also be at the ready thanks to a new mutual aid agreement with state police and with surrounding towns, he added.



The Davis report criticized police response in that only 24 of Amherst’s 46 officers were at the event, and the UMass police contributed four officers and one supervisor. Police arrived in riot gear and used bullhorns and pepper spray to move the crowd.



“We were working on it for last year; we didn’t have a mutual aid pact in place and this year we do,” Livingstone said. “The university and Amherst departments will be at full staff.”



Communication



Many of the Davis report recommendations had to do with communication. On the administration side, university officials were encouraged to monitor social media in advance of the event. Police were recommended to reach out to student groups, landlords and bar owners.



In the past few weeks, some students have emerged on Twitter and Facebook selling T-shirts for the event. One shirt features a graphic of a “drunk-o-meter” dial.



Gelaye said administrators have been in touch with students they have observed posting in that way, as well as talking with those students’ parents.



“Where students are engaged in that behavior, we’re talking to them about what does that mean,” Gelaye said. “Maybe they haven’t thought about the multidimensional effects.”



Meanwhile, police have talked to landlords and student fraternities and sororities about reducing parties. Nuisance reports have gone down, according to Musante.



“That goes way beyond what the enforcement technique is,” Musante said. “It is on-the-ground positive policing.”



Musante added that bars will not be doing any advertising for events during the Blarney weekend.



Musante said that if preparations go well, he hopes to be bored on March 7.



Asked whether he felt good about preparations, Livingstone said he believes that the departments, administrators and student leaders had done all they could to prepare. At the same time, Livingstone said he is not resting easy just yet.



“I’ll feel better on March 8,” he said.



Staff Writer Scott Merzbach contributed to this report. Dave Eisenstadter can be reached at deisen@gazettenet.com.





