SPRINGTIME at the University would not be complete without the Foxfields races. Attending the races has been a tradition for students and visiting alumni for a long time, and they usually take place on one of the weekends before spring classes end. For many students, they are the big end of the year party.
Recently, the popularity of the races has grown significantly. With an estimated 30,000 participants, last year's races were the most attended in the history of the event. This increased attendance brought several issues to light, including massive traffic in residential neighborhoods and a high prevalence of alcohol consumption among students. In response, the Alcoholic Beverage Control of Virginia and the officials of the Foxfields races wish to make some changes, which they think will calm things down at upcoming races. No matter what the new rules are, the fundamental nature of the Foxfields races for many student participants will not be changed, nor should it be.
To be blunt, last spring's Foxfields races were massive. There were a lot of people, a lot of cars, and a lot of booze. Complaints about the race ranged from public drunkenness and instances of drunk driving to heavy traffic in residential streets. According to Jill Ingram, chair of ADAPT at the University, the racing association has suggested that the amount of people allowed in the gate should be limited to 20,000. Additionally, the association wants a greater police presence, including road check points outside the races, more police directly outside the races and more private security. It also believes there should be more booths selling non-alcoholic beverages and better advertised free water.
All the suggestions that the racing association has provided are good ideas, but they will probably do little to change the nature of the races. Restricting the number of people at the races will make the crowd easier to handle and ease up on traffic. But 20,000 people still constitutes a sizable crowd. Roughly speaking, the University student population - both graduate and undergraduate - numbers about 20,000, and if the traffic on the roads around the University are any indication, there will be a great deal of traffic at the races regardless. An increased police presence may result in more arrests, but since every participant has the potential to become drunk, to actually make a difference in public drunkenness, there would have to be an impossibly high attendee-to-police ratio. A police presence of that size would be extremely expensive.
That is not to say that these ideas are without merit. But regardless of the new measures, there will be a great number of attendees who will show up drunk or drink enough at the event to get drunk.
That is just the way things tend to be. It is generally the nature of college students to want to party at the end of the school year on a large scale. For many students, "partying" implies drinking. Colleges across the nation have similar events, such as Diallo Day at Northwestern University, The Rites of Spring at Vanderbilt University, and Spring Fling at George Washington University. If it were not Foxfields, there would be something else. Just as students switched to Foxfields after the Easter weekend festivities of the '70s and '80s were stopped by the University administration because they were becoming too rowdy, students would find somewhere else to party if Foxfields became too restricted.
Compared to the Easter festivities of the past, it is a good thing that the University's "big party" is held at the Foxfields races. If students are going to get drunk, they are at least doing it at an organized event with police and medical supervision. Also, the general attitude of the races is one of relaxed fun. The majority of participants are dressed up and sitting or calmly walking. Compared to most events of the size of Foxfields, such as concert festivals and athletic events, or of the nature of many parties held regularly during the school year, the races are relatively peaceful gatherings. There are still some incidents at the races because of the sheer number of drunk students in one place, but for the size and nature of the event, most incidents are negligible. All things considered, Foxfields is probably the safest event possible for the type of party that University students are going to have at the end of the year.
The racing association should not be disappointed if it finds that its changes do not make as much impact as it had expected. The rules may make the races safer, and there should be even more effort to make safety a priority.But traffic and alcohol consumption are two factors that will probably remain constant in upcoming years.
(Alex Rosemblat's column appears Wednesdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at arosemblat@cavalierdaily.com.)
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