For the second year in a row, Duke students will not be provided transportation to Chapel Hill’s Franklin Street Halloween celebration.
As another option for students, Campus Council is organizing Devil’s Eve on Main West Quadrangle Saturday night, with activities including costume contests as well as music and dance performances. The decision to keep Franklin Street restricted to Chapel Hill residents stemmed from safety concerns, Chapel Hill Mayor Kevin Foy said.
“The problem is, in the past, we have had increased numbers of people coming to Franklin Street, until the point a couple of years ago, when 80,000 people crowded downtown, in too little space,” Foy said in an interview. “It was too big and too dangerous.”
Many Duke students believe Chapel Hill’s Franklin Street policy is unfair.
“I kind of equate this to LDOC at Duke,” junior Yi Zhang said. “Even though a lot of people come from off campus and cause a lot of damages, we never exclude anyone from LDOC.”
Junior Pat Light agreed with this sentiment.
“I don’t think Durham ever closes its doors to UNC students,” Light said. “If they’re trying to foster a brotherhood between the two cities, this isn’t the way to do it.”
Foy noted these concerns and wanted to emphasize that Franklin Street’s new “Homegrown Halloween” policy was not meant to single out Duke students. Foy said the problem was that people came by the busload from numerous places, sometimes as far as Georgia and Tennessee.
“It became an enormous regional event that we couldn’t accommodate,” Foy said. “It’s just a safety issue and we’re trying to scale it down to a local event.”
Unfortunately, Chapel Hill’s method of addressing Franklin Street’s safety issues has created a new cause for concern at Duke.
Junior Will Passo, Duke Student Government vice president for Durham and regional affairs, said he worries that Franklin Street’s “Homegrown Halloween” policy will not discourage students from driving to Chapel Hill, a particularly dangerous situation on a night when drinking alcohol is a prime activity.
“Kids are still going to go,” Passo said. “But now, the University can’t ensure safety.”
Campus Council Programming Chair Ben Goldenberg, a sophomore, said he believes that although there are many alternatives in celebrating Halloween, it would be good to bring the Duke community together on campus as well.
“The Franklin Street festivities have certainly become a well-known tradition,” he said. “I believe that Devil’s Eve can evolve into that sort of tradition.”
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