-- This is an unsanctioned event on our campus, and we are not happy that UCSC is one of the campuses on which it takes place. Last week, our Student Affairs Vice Chancellor sent the following message to all students reiterating that point: messages.ucsc.edu/text.asp?pid=2126
-- Since the event is based on the consumption of an illegal drug, by its very nature this unsanctioned event is in conflict with UCSC's Student Code of Conduct. Through this code of conduct, we make it clear to all students that we expect them to abide by all laws and campus regulations. Students who violate laws and/or campus regulations subject themselves to the possibility of court-imposed punishment and student-judicial actions.
So, why did we permit the most recent 4/20 event to happen?
-- This year, we made a decision to deploy our police officers at the two campus entrances in order to make it more difficult for people (many of whom have no affiliation with the campus) to attend this illegal and unsanctioned event. While it's impossible to state with any authority the degree to which our efforts were successful, we did turn away a number of vehicles whose occupants had no sanctioned reason for being on campus on Sunday.
Why not deploy the police on the site and order them to issue citations?
-- Given the size of this gathering in recent years, this year we decided that having officers on site attempting to issue citations would not be the most effective (and safest) way to combat this. Instead, we decided to make it as difficult as possible for people to attend. Some observers report that the event was slightly smaller than last year's; if true, this reverses a many-year trend of it growing in size on this campus.
-- Obviously, we remain very concerned about this activity. We are currently assessing which elements of our operations plan were helpful this year and which were not. We also believe that there is much more opportunity to discuss (and hopefully demystify) this event during orientation sessions with new students and their families.
