CU students are voicing their opinions about the university’s decision to put an end to the 4/20 gathering on Norlin Quad this year, and it has clearly raised controversy.

A university news release was announced last Friday to CU students, faculty and staff that campus will be closed on April 20 to unauthorized visitors due to the disruption caused by the 4/20 gathering.

“The gathering disrupts teaching and research right in the heart of the campus,” Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano said in the news release. “The size of the crowd has become unmanageable, and limits our faculty, staff and students from getting to class, entering buildings and doing their basic work. It needs to end.”

The university’s plan to crackdown on the gathering details the penalties that offenders may face if caught smoking or in possession of marijuana on campus Friday, as well as other security measures being taken to ensure that visitors will not enter campus grounds. The news release also includes information on the Program Council’s concert, which is free to all students, performed by Wyclef Jean at the Coors Events Center with doors opening at 2 p.m. Friday.

The steps being taken by university administration to eliminate the 4/20 gathering on campus has people voicing their opinions around campus, the city of Boulder, as well as on Facebook and Twitter. The following students have shared their opinions on the matter:

“I think the increased security is an overkill and wasteful. I think by the school trying to discourage it so much it will only make people want to do it more.”

– Laura Gentile, 22-year-old senior integrative physiology major

“The only thing that [closing campus to non-affiliates] is saying is that the CU police are great enforcers; I don’t think it is protecting the reputation of CU at all. They are just making a big deal about 4/20 because the issue is a drug. I went a couple of years ago when I was in high school and now that I’m in college I wanted to experience [4/20] from a Boulder resident’s perspective, and now it’s canceled.”

– Sophia Przybylo, 19-year-old freshman nursing major

“Even with those measures, [police] won’t be able to deter people from smoking on campus. I found out that CU was a party school after I was accepted. I think that 4/20 is an interesting cultural phenomenon that happens at our school, but I think that it is unnecessary, and I wish it wasn’t associated with our school.”

– Haley Gocha, 18-year-old freshman English major

“If [university administration] tried to do this in baby steps, it wouldn’t work. I think it was necessary to do all of these [enforcement measures] at once to let people know that they are serious. I think it’s good that they are having the concert at the same time. I didn’t know about CU’s party school reputation until after I was accepted. I feel that if 4/20 was associated with the city of Boulder rather than the school it would be okay, but the fact that people take pride in smoking pot at CU is a problem. I also think that the problem is the fact that so many people from out of town come to the campus to smoke.”

– Jennifer Dutton, 19-year-old freshmen political science major

For more information on the series of measures to be undertaken on Friday, visit www.colorado.edu/april20.

Contact CU Independent Staff Writers Bethany Morris at Bethany.morris@colorado.edu and Megan Moran at Megan.j.moran@colorado.edu.

Tags:  4/20 campus administration civil disobedience CUPD CUSG marijuana program council student protests student reaction Wyclef Jean