Fountain Day 2008

With temperatures starting to rise, many students celebrate the end of a cold, Albany winter and the anticipated arrival of spring. The university unites students in this celebration by hosting its annual Fountain Day. Fountain Day is a time for students to emerge from winter hibernation and relax with friends before having to worry about final exams. This year marks the 30th anniversary of Fountain Day, and thousands of UAlbany students will come out on April 27th to keep the tradition alive.
Although this event is popular among the UAlbany community, many students are unaware of the how the tradition began. One UAlbany student, Willow Burns, defined the holiday as this: “Fountain Day is intended to give students a day to celebrate the school year; it's a way for them to relax and have fun. That way, students won't go psycho during finals week and drop out." When freshman Farah Bernadin was asked about Fountain Day, she said “The whole entire school goes into the fountain. People play, hang out, stuff like that. I guess it’s a school tradition.”
Fountain Day, originally known as “May Fest,” began on May 5th, 1978. The day was traditionally held during the week, where students and staff spent the day outside enjoying the weather and celebrating the return of the fountain. Over the years, the campus became crowded with UAlbany students and their friends. Also, the university celebration began to center itself around alcohol, and Fountain Day began to look more like a crazy house party instead of a university sanctioned event.
Fountain Day chaos peaked after the 2004 celebration. The high level of student intoxication and injuries made headlines everywhere, making many question the credibility of the university. Since Fountain Day 2004, the university took many steps to make Fountain Day a safe and sober event, while still maintaining the fun and excitement that UAlbany students wait all year for. The changes that the university made are still in effect today. One of the changes is a no-guest policy. This change upset many students that looked forward to their friends experience the unique event. Another policy that was implemented was that all students were required to register prior to the event. Registering for the event was also an agreement to keep Fountain Day a safe event. To further ensure safety, bags or containers of any kind were prohibited from being brought into the fountain area. In order to keep student interest in Fountain Day, the university planned fun activities for UAlbany students to participate in during Fountain Day 2005. One of these events included a pillow fight in Collins Circle, in an attempt to beat the world record for the largest pillow fight.
This year’s Fountain Day is full of fun activities for UAlbany students. In addition to the free food and music, students may participate in various contests such as a scavenger hunt, and an obstacle course. Festivities began at noon, with the return of the fountains at 3 PM. Students will have an hour to enjoy the fountains before the celebration ends at four. Like years in the past, Fountain Day 2008 will unite the UAlbany community as many gather to celebrate the arrival of Spring.

Sources:
http://media.www.ualbanyezine.com/media/storage/paper685/news/2006/05/03/FountainDay/Ualbany.Staff.Forces.Fountain.Day.Changes-1900140.shtml

http://www.albany.edu/news/campus_news/2005/apr2005/reclaim_fountainday.htm

http://www.albany.edu/fountainday/schedule.shtml