Hundreds of university students gathered from 11 p.m. Friday to 2 a.m. Saturday looking for a good time without consuming alcohol.
This task, though seemingly impossible on a college campus, was attempted at Eppley Recreation Center as part of the third Eppley After Dark event, which attempts to provide students with a late-night, alcohol-free party.
The event, which was hosted by Campus Recreation Services, the Campus Alcohol Coalition and the University Health Center, featured dozens of students playing table tennis and dodgeball or taking their turn on the ERC’s climbing wall.
With university President Dan Mote and University System of Maryland Chancellor Brit Kirwan recently signing the Amethyst Initiative, a petition urging debate about possibly lowering the drinking age, administrators are and other alcohol-related problems on the campus by providing many alcohol-free events to lure students away from house parties and the bars lining Route 1.
“My main goal for this event was to provide alternative late-night activities for students who are looking for something to do on a Friday night with friends that doesn’t involve alcohol,” said Katie Marzocca, assistant director of sports clubs at Campus Recreation Services. “We really tried to come up with a diverse selection of different activities.”
Admission was free with a university ID.
“I went because it really sounded like fun,” said freshman theatre major Gordy Anson, who attended the event. “You get offered to drink a lot, so it was nice to have a change.”
Sophomore economics major Jing Lin, who is employed at the ERC and helped track attendance, noted that the party “[was] a lot busier than expected.” She said there were groups of students present before 11 p.m., waiting for the event to begin.
Of course, the free food being offered didn’t harm attendance. By 11:30 p.m., large crowds had formed around a long table with boxes of pizza.
“You definitely can’t lose with free food,” Anson said.
Warren Kelley, assistant vice president for student affairs, said the Eppley event would serve as a test of how interested students are in alcohol-free, late-night activities.
“Unfortunately, providing non-alcoholic events at night so as to offer an alternative to drinking is difficult, since it is costly to keep facilities open and staffed at these times,” said Kelley, who chairs the Campus Alcohol Coalition. “In the case of the Eppley Recreation Center, we agreed to pilot several of these events during the year to see if they proved attractive to students.”
Students believed organizers met their goal with the event.
Freshman cell biology and genetics major Lauren Kreeger said she would stay “as long as [she] can,” while she and Anson both said if there were similar events later in the year, they would “definitely” attend.
“It’s a great way to socialize, stay in shape, have fun and, of course, all without the need for alcohol,” Kelley said.
Marzocca said there are plans for a similar event to occur in spring, but that no final date has been set.
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