Cal Poly’s St. Fratty’s Day made national headlines due to a roof collapse at the annual block party in 2015.
Nine years later, St. Fratty’s resulted in over $24,000 worth of damages at the Red Bricks residence halls. This year, Cal Poly and the City of San Luis Obispo announced a new approach: prevention over containment.
The city created a task force to address the destruction and has since implemented a plan to stop the block party and move the festivities onto campus. Now, the primary countermeasures involve an on-campus alternative event and double fines under a city safety enhancement zone.
The St. Fratty’s block party in 2024 saw a record high of 150 reported criminal offenses, including unruly gatherings, public urination, noise control and possession or consumption of alcohol in public.
Reactions were swift the following days. University President Armstrong sent an email condemning the extensive damage done to the various residence halls, particularly Muir Hall.
Mustang News’ Archana Pisupati talked with Mayor Erica Stewart and University President Jeffrey Armstrong about their perspectives on the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations and the alternative event. The text is pulled from written transcripts and edited for clarity.
How did last year’s St. Patrick’s Day influence Cal Poly’s approach to the event this year?
STEWART: I think for us as the community, we heard loud and clear for our members of our community, students or non-students, whether you live here for a few years or for many, many decades, people would like to be able to sleep in their own homes in a safe manner.
What were some of the things you were feeling right after St. Patrick’s Day last year?
STEWART: I was very grateful and we were all very grateful that no one was hurt. First and foremost, that’s the most important aspect. When we talk about March 17 and the frustration around the parties — around St. Patrick’s Day — this is based off of the frustration from many, many parties, gatherings. This is not the first thing.
ARMSTRONG: The vandalism and the destruction on campus was extremely disappointing and many students said, ‘Well, it wasn’t me.’ Well, they were your visitors. And there were some cases that were students.
We need to make sure that, privacy issues aside, people know that accountability does occur. And that led to looking at an alternative event. But again, we want to get to the point where there are not people getting up at 4:00 a.m.
What are the efforts to prevent the block party? Will there be increased police enforcement?
STEWART: We have an increased amount of law enforcement officers from the police department in San Luis Obispo, from outside of SLOPD, as well as from the on-campus police department.
We have also increased the safety enhancement zone. Fines start at $700 to $1,000, depending on the infraction. The goal was, ‘We’re not kidding, we’re very serious. This needs to not be happening in our community anymore.’
ARMSTRONG: We know this is not a Greek event. It may have started that way years ago, but it’s really visitors, it’s a lot of people in the community, other communities and our students.
We’re trying to set up an environment where people want to go there instead of the neighborhoods and clogging up the neighborhoods and waking up people or even worse, unsafe behavior or people getting hurt, property being damaged.
Mayor Stewart, at city council meetings, during open hall conversations, locals have expressed distress about this event. How do you expect them to react to this event happening on campus?
STEWART: Partnering with Cal Poly and hoping that this music festival in the morning will help people get out of the streets, the neighborhoods. The 4:00 a.m. music may be challenging for some. Again, that is hopefully better on campus than in the middle of the street.
Again, we have the safety enhancement zone that has been increased and there will be bigger fines. This is not a year we’ll have warnings.
President Armstrong, on top of not being able to stay at those residence halls, what are some other things the university will be doing about those kinds of damages that happened last year that might happen this year?
ARMSTRONG: We’re going to have shuttles to the Cal Poly Alternative Music Event.
We really would also say to students: If you’re in the neighborhood and you’re heading to the alternative event, get out of the neighborhood as quickly as you can. Make a B-line to the intramural fields because SLOPD, UPD—they’re going to be out. We work hard without warning. We don’t want an illegal street party. So, get to the event.
What does the future of this event look like right now? Is it something that you want to plan again in the future, or is it a one-time thing?
STEWART: Realistically, 4:00 a.m. music in the morning is probably not what anyone wants to see here, but if this is what works, then we’re willing to continue to partner.
That [the alternative event] is hopefully better on campus than in the middle of the street because of the illegal street gathering. I think that has been the biggest issue, along with the property damage and the noise.
ARMSTRONG: The other thing that’s happening in ‘26 is we move to semesters. So we won’t have this time in March again where there’s the potential right before finals. But we’ll just have to see.
What impact do you hope this event will have on Cal Poly’s public reputation and safety? What do you hope that reputation will be like after this event?
STEWART: As an alumni, I really hope that my degree is not from a party school. It is from a school where we’re continuing to be Cal Poly Proud.
ARMSTRONG: Our reputation is critical. The best way our reputation is built is the success of our graduates, our alumni.
It’s also making sure that all students feel welcome here. I mean, there are some students, they don’t want anything to do with this type of thing. They may say, ‘You know, I’m not coming to college.’ But so far, we have huge demand. We have amazing faculty and staff who care deeply about our students.