Security at Spring Fair concert was ineffective

Last Friday, The Chainsmokers, Shwayze and Marian Hill performed for the annual Spring Fair concert. The event was co-hosted by Spring Fair and The HOP and took place on the practice field.

Although a Friday night concert is traditional for Spring Fair weekend, this year’s event was noticeably different from past years. The most obvious change from last year’s concert was location; instead of taking place inside the Recreation Center, the concert was held outside. The Editorial Board views this as a positive change. This location allowed for the accommodation of 2,500 people as well as provided a better atmosphere for the music.

Tickets for the concert sold out quickly, and Spring Fair and The HOP responded by selling more tickets as ‘outdoor-only’ in the event of inclement weather. Given the sell out, these organizations should have been better prepared for the large crowd and the dangerous situations that arose.

Security for the event was provided by an outside company called S.A.F.E. Management. S.A.F.E provides security for various types of events and staffs University functions such as Spring Fair’s beer garden. On their website, S.A.F.E. cites crowd management as one of the duties their security officers are qualified to perform. But at the Spring Fair concert, S.A.F.E. failed to control the crowd well.

Security failed to respond to multiple dangerous situations during the concert. Pushing and shoving in the crowd threatened students’ safety throughout the night and was never addressed by security. Even when the shoving became so extreme as to push students down to the ground, security only made weak — and ultimately ineffective — attempts to manage it.

The physical barrier in between the crowd and the stage was frail as well, and multiple times, pushing within the crowd caused the barrier to fall forward, almost completely to the ground. Security simply pushed back on the barrier to keep it from falling over, but this response was only reactive. The barriers should have been larger and stronger — it is unacceptable for these safety measures to be easily overcome by students. Following these incidences, security made no changes to prevent the situation from reoccurring.

Additionally, many fights broke out within the crowd, but security seemed more concerned with preventing students from smoking cigarettes than protecting them from physical dangers. Security should have had more staff stationed in the crowd in order to identify and neutralize these situations instead of standing at the front of the stage. Given the massive and expectedly boisterous crowd, there should have been more security overall.

Security did an admirable job of controlling the entrance of students into the concert. The team checked bags and pockets for illicit substances and asked students of questionable intoxication to walk in a straight line to ensure that they were not too inebriated to attend the event. However, the vast majority of their efforts following this initial screening proved insufficient. The responsibility to keep students safe and secure falls upon Spring Fair, The HOP, and the University, and it is not something to be taken lightly. The situation at this year’s concert was unacceptable, and we urge these institutions to reevaluate their security teams for high-volume events and make the necessary changes for next year.