Policies to keep attendance low at Halloween festivities have proven more trick than treat for Duke University.
In an effort to enforce the policies, Student Body President Hogan Medlin wrote a letter to three universities, including Duke, asking that students not attend.
The letter, which was also sent to N.C. State University and N.C. Central University, has provoked a strong reaction from Medlin’s counterpart at Duke.
“As someone who loves Chapel Hill, it is difficult for me to ask people not to come experience this wonderful place,” Medlin wrote in the letter. “We absolutely want you to visit Chapel Hill… but we are requesting that you choose another weekend to do so.”
Medlin said excessive crowds contribute to a more dangerous atmosphere, which town officials enlisted his support to avoid.
“Students were saying that there were a lot of people coming from out of town,” Medlin said. “A lot of the unsafe situations were coming from students not from UNC.”
The town began the Homegrown Halloween campaign in response to the estimated 80,000 people who came to the downtown area in 2007. By limiting access, attendance was reduced to 35,000 in 2008 and 50,000 in 2009.
Medlin said he hoped to keep the letter positive and thought it was well-received.
“I didn’t get much animosity,” he said.