After years of disruptive and disastrous events, Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong said the university’s efforts to rein in St Fratty’s Day this year was a success, calling it a relatively calm and peaceful weekend.
“I am happy to report that, although there were some issues and areas of learning for our community, we achieved our primary goal of avoiding large-scale, out-of-control parties in the neighborhoods near campus,” he wrote in a letter addressed to the campus community.
In previous years, thousands of people took to the streets to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, destroying university housing, climbing neighborhood light poles, and collapsing roofs. This year, Cal Poly and the city of San Luis Obispo decided to take a different approach.
Hosting its first ever Morning on the Green—A Mustang Music Festival, Cal Poly held the free-to-students concert on March 15 from 4 to 9 a.m. at the Sports Complex Lower Fields, featuring headliner Zhu and special guest Galantis.
Tickets for Morning on the Green were capped at 5,000 tickets and sold out in three minutes on March 5, but the concert also had a “waiting list” line to potentially let more students in as allowed by fire code.
Cal Poly Assistant Vice President for Communications and Media Relations Matt Lazier told New Times via email that some students in that line rushed the gates and knocked down the fences, running to the field to join in.
Lazier said the fences were eventually left open and the event peaked with nearly 6,000 attendees.
President Armstrong condemned it in his letter.
“This was dangerous and unacceptable behavior that caused injury to some employees and could have led to serious injury and widespread harm to many more. Fortunately, the injuries were limited and the event continued without further incident,” Armstrong said.
Lazier said the event wasn’t meant to hold all Cal Poly students because the school doesn’t have the venue space.
“As is, the concert staged Saturday was the largest-ever music event held on campus by more than 2,000 people,” he told New Times. “Furthermore, the festival was never intended to accommodate all, or even a majority, of Cal Poly’s students for the simple fact that most students don’t take part in unruly celebrations in the neighborhoods, and the event’s main purpose was to provide an alternative to those gatherings.”
According to Lazier, the university doesn’t have a “final figure” for the cost of the event yet.
Last year, a Cal Poly dorm was evacuated to repair and restore fire suppression and alarm systems. This year’s damages weren’t close to that, Lazier said, but they did include a handful of broken ceiling tiles and other reports of damages in a few housing facilities.
“A tiny fraction of the damage that campus experienced in 2024,” Lazier said.
Cal Poly Police reported two arrests, according to Lazier, and SLOPD recorded four arrests off-campus, which was “less than expected,” according to SLOPD’s neighborhood party enforcement update.
To keep the streets clear of parties, SLOPD called the area a safety enhancement zone from March 7 to 10 and March 14 to 18. During the safety enhancement zone, administrative fines for noise, unruly gathering, open container, and public urination were doubled and ranged from $700 to $1,000.
According to the neighborhood update, SLOPD and other agencies took a “zero tolerance approach” and did not allow people to gather in the roadway
“There was a large number of people throughout the neighborhoods, but no gathering was permitted, and roadways and sidewalks were kept clear,” the update said. Δ
This article appears in Spring Arts Annual 2025.