UConn pulls light poles, prepping for Final Four
Cites damage done last year
The University of Connecticut has removed a number of aluminum light poles on campus this week in preparation for the final rounds of March Madness, as the men’s and women’s teams advanced to the Final Four.
Last year, when the UConn men’s basketball team won the NCAA championship, revelers caused more than $550,000 in damage on campus, officials said. Videos from the time showed UConn fans smashing a light pole through a window and flipping over a vehicle.
The light posts are being temporarily removed from Fairfield Way, a path that cuts through the middle of campus, and replaced with wall lights that “provide the same amount of illumination without being vulnerable to being removed and misused,” according to Stephanie Reitz, a UConn spokesperson.
Light posts will be “reinstalled later” at the same sites, Reitz wrote in an email Wednesday. The exact number of light posts removed was not immediately available.
The effort comes after 25 students, four alumni, and 10 other people were arrested in April 2023 when the men’s basketball team defeated San Diego State in the championship game, and carousers caused damage to the light poles and the campus, according to Reitz and footage posted on X, formerly Twitter.
“It’s important to emphasize that the vast majority of our students celebrated last year’s championship in a responsible, appropriate manner,” Reitz wrote. “It’s unfortunate that a small fraction of people in the crowds chose to be disruptive, but their behavior should reflect only on them, not on our full student body or other Husky fans.”
The men’s and women’s basketball teams are moving on to the NCAA semifinals, known as the Final Four. The No. 3 seeded women’s team will face No. 1 seed Iowa on Friday, and the No. 1 seeded men’s team will take on No. 4 seed Alabama on Saturday.
UConn officials have been discussing safety preparations on campus for weeks as both the men’s and women’s teams advanced in the tournament, according to Reitz.
Along with the arrests last April, 16 people were injured, though none were “determined to be serious,” Reitz wrote, and the 25 students who were arrested faced criminal charges and repercussions from the university, including six expulsions, including more than one student in their final semester before graduation.