STORRS, Conn. — Precautions have been in place Monday on the College of Connecticut designed to forestall a repeat of the violence and vandalism that marred the celebrations of the varsity’s 2023 NCAA males’s basketball championship.
Upfront of the Closing 4, the varsity eliminated the aluminum gentle posts alongside Hillside Highway, the primary thoroughfare via the middle of campus, and changed them with momentary, recessed lighting.
The varsity additionally has restricted the scale of the campus watch celebration deliberate for Monday’s title recreation in opposition to Purdue. Solely 6,700 college students, all of whom received tickets to the occasion via a lottery, will likely be allowed inside Gampel Pavilion for the occasion, they usually all will likely be seated within the higher bowl of the ten,000-seat area.
Not like final yr, most of the people is not going to be allowed into the world and no alcohol will likely be bought through the occasion, college spokesman Mike Enright mentioned.
A complete of 39 individuals have been arrested after celebrants broke home windows, overturned automobiles and even used a light-weight put up to ram a door on the scholar union following the Huskies’ win over San Diego State final April.
A lot of these concerned within the rioting additionally confronted self-discipline from the varsity, which ended up expelling six college students, together with multiple of their remaining semester earlier than they’d have graduated, Enright mentioned.
Sixteen individuals have been injured, none of them severely, Enright mentioned.
“We felt that the big variety of individuals at Gampel final yr may need contributed to the actions that adopted on campus,” he mentioned. “We’re attempting to unfold the celebrations out a bit bit.”
College, state and native police have additionally been coordinating to ensure there may be “an elevated security presence,” Enright mentioned. He additionally famous that there are quite a few video cameras on campus to assist police determine any issues and people liable for them.
Enright mentioned related precautions have been taken for watch events throughout each the boys’s and girls’s Closing 4 video games Friday and Saturday evening, and no main issues have been reported on campus both evening.
“General, the scholars are very effectively behaved,” Enright mentioned. “And Saturday evening they have been distinctive through the semifinal in opposition to Alabama and on Friday for the ladies’s recreation as effectively.”
