The tradition of Maine Day has proven itself to be an unsquashable cockroach beneath the shoe of the University of Maine Administration. The historic day, held on the last Wednesday before finals week, was inaugurated in 1935. From there, a day of service and on-campus celebration evolved into a day of drinking and light vandalism at a local apartment complex, the Avenue. The school voted to get rid of Maine Day by no longer giving students the day off from classes during my first year. This alone was a mistake.
While I fully understand the health and safety sentiment behind not wanting Maine Day to happen, taking away the day off ended up punishing every student for the actions of a small but loud group of people. The day off was a much needed break for students going into finals week. The spring semester has way less three-day weekends and breaks. After spring break, the school year just keeps going straight to finals week.
However, this did not kill the tradition. In my past three years here, I have still heard tales and seen photos of large gatherings of people at the Ave on the day formerly known as “Maine Day.” It’s clear that making classes mandatory for the day did nothing to kill the party spirit of the Black Bears. If the University cannot kill Maine Day, they must prioritize harm reduction to make the day as safe for students as possible.
A health-centric approach to the day is crucial for the university. Cutler Health Center closes at 5 p.m. and is appointment-based, meaning they are unable to respond in the case of a health emergency. The UMaine Volunteer Ambulance Corps provides full coverage that day, but that doesn’t mean the health response should stop there. The presence of a medical tent for students would mean students who believe they or a friend are experiencing a medical energy would be able to quickly and easily locate a place to go to for help that would not involve ambulance transportation.
Free water is also crucial, since dehydration is a huge concern in crowds consuming mass amounts of alcohol. Ideally, these would be stationed at the Ave so that students participating in the festivities can have access to water to prioritize their own health. Another huge concern is bathrooms. Since it is an apartment complex, there is no public access to bathrooms. The presence of a portapotty would avoid situations in which drunk students have to perform their bodily functions on public property.
However, I do not believe that the Ave would allow these things. I do not believe that they care for the health and safety of the partiers. Maine Day is undeniably a huge inconvenience for the Avenue Management. They would rather pretend it is not going to happen than to put in work to make it safer, since this could be perceived as encouraging the party. However, these efforts to squash Maine Day both from the university and the Ave just end up reinforcing the dangerousness of the behavior by deprioritizing student health.
