U of I prof to governor: End Champaign’s ‘orgiastic defilement of Saint Patrick’

• Reprints

Updated: March 11, 2012 8:47AM

A University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign law professor is asking Gov. Pat Quinn to stop the area’s “unofficial” St. Patrick’s Day celebration, calling the annual drunkfest an “orgiastic defilement of Saint Patrick.”

Prof. Francis Boyle, who teaches international human rights law and has nominated former Gov. George Ryan for multiple Nobel Peace Prizes, wants Quinn to invoke emergency powers to suspend all Champaign liquor licenses on March 2, this year’s date for the party known simply as “Unofficial.”

The governor’s “first name is Patrick and hopefully he would be concerned his patron saint is being defiled in this way by a gang of mercenary bar and liquor store owners getting the youth in this area stinking drunk in the name of St. Patrick,” Boyle said. Boyle sent Quinn a letter dated Feb. 8, linking the pub crawls to a variety of bad behavior and asking him to take action.

U of I spring break occurs over St. Patrick’s Day, so in 1996 a bar owner started his own early “unofficial” celebration. The day attracts students from colleges beyond the U of I and is known for excessive consumption of green beer from dawn to way past dusk.

U of I officials and local police have sent out letters to parents about the day, and police from a number of local agencies are on high alert. Still, hundreds are typically cited for underage drinking and last year, a U of I junior died after being struck by two vehicles while walking across a street. Though his blood alcohol limit was three times higher than the Illinois legal limit for driving, his family said in a statement that they did not think the “Unofficial” celebration should be blamed for his death.

Champaign police spokeswoman Rene Dunn noted that “Unofficial” is not sponsored or sanctioned by the U of I or the cities of Champaign or Urbana. Local law enforcement spend thousands in overtime patrolling the parties, she wrote in an email.

Boyle said he has tried for years to get the local government to crack down, but believes they are resistant because “everyone in this town makes money out of getting these kids stinking drunk.” Boyle, who calls himself “South Side Irish,” said it’s a public safety matter, personal for him as an Irish-American.

“This is just an orgiastic defilement of St. Patrick,” he said. “Kids start drinking first thing in the morning and drop late at night drunk, urinating, accosting you in the street. There’s no excuse for any of this.”

Brooke Anderson, Quinn’s spokeswoman, said in an email that the Illinois Liquor Control Commission has worked closely with the area’s police departments to “keep Unofficial St. Pat’s under control,” including limiting liquor sales and prohibiting private parties.