As most IU students and faculty know, Little 500 week is famous for more than just a bike race. This week is arguably one of the biggest party traditions in IU history and is also known for its increased crime rate. IU students partaking in the festivities need to start taking responsibility for themselves and fellow students.
The week leading up to the Little 500 race is historically a week of visitors, parties and bar crawls, but with those events almost always come reckless decisions and, unfortunately, an increase in crime in Bloomington.
According to an article by the Indy Star, last year Indiana State Excise Police officers reported arresting or citing 179 people in Bloomington alone during the week of Little 500. These 179 people were arrested on 347 different charges.
Most of these charges were typical of a college town, including fake IDs, possession of an alcoholic beverage, public intoxication and drug offenses.
The most devastating part about these charges isn’t the fact that I can call they’re typical for a college town but that they’re not even the worst crimes committed during this week.
Historically, even more severe crimes such as rape, missing persons and other violent crimes seem to peak during the week before the Little 500 races.
As an example we can look back on the devastating murder of Hannah Wilson that happened at this time in 2015 after a night of celebrating the Little 500.
As the saying “history repeats itself” goes, crime during Little 500 has begun early this year. Even though the unofficial start of the Little 500 week did not begin until Monday, a young woman reported being raped at an IU fraternity just last week.
Inevitably, as long as Little 500 week remains the week of parties and celebrations that it is known for, crimes such as underage drinking, the use of fake IDs and public intoxication will continue to occur.
However, just because these offenses continue, it does not mean that we can’t pull together as a community to watch each other’s backs to make sure no one suffers the more heinous side of Little 500.
We have a responsibility as students to look out for one another and our community.
Stay responsible this week by asking friends for rides to and from bars and houses, split an Uber with friends or take the city bus for free.
We are just less than halfway through Little 500 week, and I urge everyone celebrating to be responsible, make memories and look out for your fellow Hoosiers — make this a year where we all go home safe.
kkmeier@umail.iu.edu
