Cal Poly’s “St. Fratty’s Day” celebration—famous
for students, likely infamous for others—is going
to look very different this year as San Luis Obispo
police and city officials crack down on restrictions
amid years of disruption and disaster.
Cal Poly and the San Luis Obispo Police
Department aim to enforce stricter rules on student
partiers, and Cal Poly is offering a free alternative to
keep students off the city’s streets and on campus:
Morning on the Green—A Mustang Music Festival.
On March 15 from 4 to 9 a.m., the university is
hosting the free concert series for students at the
Cal Poly Sports Complex Lower Fields that will be
supervised by SLOPD and city officials. According
to the university’s “Don’t Test
Your Luck” website, Cal Poly said
it hopes to provide a space where
“students can enjoy music, food,
and fun, all while being at a lower
risk of harming themselves or
violating campus and city laws.”
In 2023, starting as early as 3:30 a.m., an
estimated 7,000 partiers took to SLO streets near
campus. They were issued underage drinking
violations and caused damage to multiple
structures, including Cal Poly freshman dorm Muir
Hall, which experienced damages
so severe that around 300 student
residents were evacuated to repair
and restore fire suppression and
alarm systems.
During the 2015 St. Fratty’s Day
mass parties, a roof collapsed with 30 people
atop it.
Tickets for Morning on the Green music
festival went live on March 5, after Cal Poly
announced the headliner as Zhu with special
guest Galantis.
Only available to Cal Poly students, the
5,000 tickets were claimed within three
minutes, Cal Poly Assistant Vice President
for Communications and Media Relations
Matt Lazier told New Times via email.
Each student could request two tickets,
and student guests don’t need to be a Cal
Poly student, he said.
According to the Associated Students
Inc. 2024-25 Fiscal Year Operating Budget,
Cal Poly allocated $160,000 toward general
concerts. When asked how much the festival
would cost, Lazier said he wouldn’t discuss
the budget or costs for the event until after
St. Patrick’s Day.
Cal Poly told the SLO City Council that
it’s cracking down when it comes to campus
guests and isn’t allowing any guests to
stay overnight from March 13 to 18 with
all entrances and exits monitored by staff.
Students must carry their ID cards to be
allowed in.
On Feb. 28, the Cal Poly Emergency
Operational Center sent a message out to
Cal Poly staff and faculty requesting help to
monitor the campus housing and enforce the
overnight guest rule.
According to the email, those who help
would be paid based on their contracts and
may receive overtime.
“We hope the added presence of staff is
enough to deter major incidents. However,
there will be plenty of other security and law
enforcement personnel should higher-level
situations arise,” the email read.
New Times contacted the Emergency
Operational Center for comment, but didn’t
receive a reply in time for publication.
Lisa Kawamura, California Faculty
Association-SLO Chapter president, told New
Times via email that the association doesn’t
have a comment on the university’s request to
staff because it didn’t directly relate to workload.
However, she said she did worry about having
more of a police presence on campus.
“It is also important to note that police
presence in situations like this tend to result
in more arrests/detainment of people of
color, and we still stand by our values that
advocate for decreased police presence on
campus,” she said. Δ
This article appears in Mar 6-16, 2025.