Fast forward to 2013. Unofficial is bigger than ever. Unofficial buzz has been heard across the campus; from the seats of the MTD to the labs of the DCL, March 2nd is the number one topic on everybody's mind. Websites and facebook pages have been set up for peddling overpriced, unoriginal t-shirt designs, shifts for jobs have been rearranged, cases upon cases of beer have been purchased. Some students are even dedicated enough to plan their semester's schedule around freeing up March 2nd.
Unlike any of the aforementioned drinking holidays, Unofficial lacks on crucial element, central planning. From my limited understanding of the workings of the Little 500 and Dillo Day, the respective institutions or a directly affiliated group is responsible for the planning and execution of the event. Although the UW Madison Halloween party is not university sanctioned, it is one, singular event unlike the scattered, potpourri of underage drinking found on Unofficial. The is no central attraction such as a parade or a concert but rather drinking for the sake of being intoxicated.
Much like the United States' war on drugs, the UIUC Administration employs a similar, non-compromising abatement strategy. To further the analogy, the war on Unofficial is colossal failure. The university spends copious amounts of time, money and personnel in a Sisyphean quest to fully eradicate Unofficial. About a month in advance, several warning emails are sent to everybody associated with the university. On the day of Unofficial, one can find increased Police activity in and around campus, guards in front of large lecture halls, all RAs on duty in all the dorms; some dining halls even close earlier than normal.
Despite the extensive measures the popularity of the holiday continues to grow. Thousands of green-clad party-goers will still take to the streets to celebrate the death of a Irish monk from the dark ages on the wrong day regardless of what UIUC says or does. The University fails to accept the fact that each one of us is an adult who understands there are risks and repercussions associated with certain kinds of behavior.
<possibly false economic reasoning>
From a purely economic perspective, the cross price elasticity for participation in Unofficial is very inelastic. Unofficial is weather, repercussion, price inelastic just to name a few. For example, one cost of walking around drunk on a cold, rainy day is the possibility of falling and the loss of utility (time, destruction of clothing, expense of a trip to the emergency room, etc) associated with that. By testing the limits of possible scenarios it is not hard to imagine the worse the weather, the fewer people will participate in Unofficial. The rate at which the two are related is the elasticity of Unofficial, and I claim that the weather elasticity of Unofficial is very inelastic, meaning if the weather is bad, roughly the same amount of people will participate.
</possibly false economic reasoning>
<possibly false economic reasoning>
From a purely economic perspective, the cross price elasticity for participation in Unofficial is very inelastic. Unofficial is weather, repercussion, price inelastic just to name a few. For example, one cost of walking around drunk on a cold, rainy day is the possibility of falling and the loss of utility (time, destruction of clothing, expense of a trip to the emergency room, etc) associated with that. By testing the limits of possible scenarios it is not hard to imagine the worse the weather, the fewer people will participate in Unofficial. The rate at which the two are related is the elasticity of Unofficial, and I claim that the weather elasticity of Unofficial is very inelastic, meaning if the weather is bad, roughly the same amount of people will participate.
</possibly false economic reasoning>
