No Sun God class-dodging, professors told

Rapper Snoop Dogg is set to come to UCSD next month to headline the school's controversial Sun God festival, noted for alcohol poisonings and drug overdoses, and officials there are already plotting ways to keep students from skipping class the next day.

"The vast majority of students behave responsibly at the Festival; unfortunately, in recent years there has been a rise in the number and severity of problems associated with drinking and other substance use," write UCSD academic affairs vice-chancellor Suresh Subramani and Academic Senate division chair Gerry Boss in an April 22 campus notice.

As previously reported, last year's event saw the death by overdose of computer science student Ricardo "Ricky" Ambriz, as well as a string of continued drug- and alcohol-related illnesses and arrests, despite a costly contingent of sworn police officers and rent-a-cops brought in by the university from across the state to ride herd on the raucous crowd.

To head off those who might make trouble this year, the university is redoubling its security and cracking down on campus dorms, as well as creating a heavily monitored, double-fenced beer garden at the festival.

"New housing policies have been implemented to mitigate the prospect of multiple large gatherings and disruptions in the residential communities and to assist staff in efficiently handling any situations in the living areas over the four days of the weekend of the Sun God Festival," according to an April 20 announcement on the Sun God website.

"This year, non-UCSD-affiliated guests will not be allowed to stay [in] the residential areas during the weekend of the Sun God Festival (April 30–May 3). Additionally, only residents of their respective residential areas are allowed to be present in living spaces of those areas during specified time periods during the weekend of the Sun God Festival."

The festival has been disruptive to the school's academic mission in other ways, according to the vice chancellor’s notice: "Over the years, faculty have complained that students have skipped classes on the Friday of the Sun God Festival."

This year’s May 3 event will be held on a Sunday (rather than on a Saturday, as it has been in the past) and is scheduled to end at eight o’clock in the evening (rather than at midnight, as it did previously). Pointing out these changes in an April 22 campus notice, UCSD academic affairs vice-chancellor Suresh Subramani and Academic Senate division chair Gerry Boss say, "Having the event on a Sunday encourages moderation and gives students a day to celebrate and enjoy the Festival, while still keeping academics as a top priority. Thus, the move of the Sun God Festival to a Sunday mid-quarter was intentional as a risk reduction strategy."

But the switch to Sunday has created new concerns that some professors may now alter their class schedules to allow themselves and their students a post-festival recovery period, a practice strongly discouraged by Subrami and Boss, a medical school professor.

"While decisions concerning instruction always rest with individual faculty members, we encourage faculty not to change their course schedule based on the date of the Sun God Festival," the notice says.

"We trust our students as young adults to enjoy a wonderful tradition, while upholding their academic responsibilities."