Sgt. Richard Cournoyer, of Mansfield’s Resident State Trooper’s Office, has a message for non-students looking for a party at the this weekend: “If you don’t belong here, just stay away.”
Cournoyer said Tuesday the town is planning to mirror UConn President Susan Herbst’s plea for non-students to stay out of Storrs this weekend. Spring Weekend is expected to take place Thursday, April 19-Sunday, April 22.
In an op-ed in The Hartford Courant April 13, Herbst wrote: “While campus facilities will be open to serve UConn students...non-students will find our campus to be inhospitable.” Non-students will not be permitted in dorms or dining halls.
Though the university has for the second year in a row this weekend, Cournoyer said Tuesday state police and local emergency personnel are continuing preparations in the event that Spring Weekend occurs.
“We’re planning for the worst, but hoping for the best,” he said.
Last year, an appeared successful. Seventeen arrests were made in 2011, down from 84 in 2010. The event also coincided with Easter weekend, a time when many students left campus to spend time with their families.
Vice President for Student Affairs John Saddlemire and said Monday .
They are as follows:
- The UConn Police department, as well as Connecticut State Police, will block or limit access to certain roads, parking lots, and pathways on and around campus. Non-students should not travel to Storrs during this time.
- The University and police are working closely with the management of the Carriage House and Celeron Square complexes. Access to these areas will be restricted and regulated.
- Guests are barred from residence halls from April 19 to 22. Dining halls will not allow non-students to enter. RAs and other Residential Life staff will enforce this.
Cournoyer said those traveling in or around Mansfield will also be met with DUI checkpoints, closed roads and parking bans.
Check back with Mansfield-Storrs Patch throughout the weekend for continuing coverage.
