St. Patrick’s Day weekend is always met with a big celebration at the University of Dayton (UD), usually including students from several other colleges. However, this year, the school has put a strict ban on non-UD students from coming onto campus this weekend.
This announcement was sent out in an email from UD safety offices and other faculty and staff. This included Casey Gill, the Vice President for Student Development and Chief Student Experience Officer, Robin Oldfield, the Vice President for Safety, Audit, Risk and Compliance and Savalas Kidd, the Associate Vice President of Public Safety and Chief Safety Officer.
“There will be no outside guests permitted on campus during the weekend of the planned event, including friends from other schools, parents and alumni. Our primary focus must be on the safety of our students, and thus the gathering should only include our students,” Gill, Oldfield and Kidd said.
In addition to the guest policy, there will also be designated areas on campus for students to gather, where both police and medical officers will be present to ensure safety.
To enforce these new rules, wristbands will be handed out to UD students who show their student ID. Only those with wristbands will be allowed into the designated gathering areas. Parking will also be restricted.
Emily Wuellner, a WSU marketing major, has previously gone to UD for St. Patrick’s Day, but will not be attending this year, due to the restriction.
“I know people are upset about this, I know I am. But the reason they are doing this is because it does get out of hand toward the end, there’s a lot of violence,” Wuellner said.
This has been seen in the past, as the 2023 UD St. Patrick’s Day celebration ended with vehicles being overturned and multiple arrests made. In 2025, the celebration ended with ambulances.
"According to a message sent by [UD], medics were called to the 400 block of Lowes Street around 20 times. Because of this, officers were attempting to disperse crowds in the area for the safety of responding crews. According to the university, bottles were thrown at officers, and the crowd was not ‘heeding commands'," the WHIOTV report reads.
Students will not be permitted to bring backpacks, large containers of alcohol, including "BORGS," glass bottles or containers, firearms or other weapons or fireworks. The UD Police will work with the Dayton Police to keep campus and the surrounding areas safe, as the main goal of the weekend is to keep students safe.
University of Dayton
