April Craze | Photo submitted by Alexis Linden
For the second year, April Craze, an annual celebration of the end of the spring semester, is canceled due to the coronavirus.
“COVID is still a risk, and with April Craze being the biggest on-campus event, it’s a risk we didn’t want to take with students,” the event director Alexis Linden said.
Due to this being a large event, trying to figure out where the vendors and students could go to maximize social distancing was a difficult process. April Craze was not officially approved for 2021, according to Linden, since discussions had to be held with the head of event services.
“With all the requirements needed to host in-person events, we didn’t think the event would be able to be done with the level of safety we and the university have set,” Linden said.
April Craze was last held in 2019 in the Student Union Apollo Room due to rainy weather.
Uncertain attendance
Linden met with the president, vice president and advisor of the University Activities Board (UAB) and determined that canceling the event would be the best option. No talks of rescheduling the spring 2021 April Craze were held.
The UAB was unsure of how many students would attend April Craze this year, since many students who are taking online classes are not visiting campus, and whether other student organizations and vendors wanted to participate.
After the cancellation was announced, Linden emailed all outside vendors to let them know.
“Some responded saying that they were sad but understood and hoped to see us next year,” Linden said. “I am upset about canceling because this was my first year as the April Craze director and I was looking forward to putting on the event.”
In place of April Craze, the director is collaborating with other UAB staff in the hope of holding a spirit week during the period before final exams. This project is still in the early stages of development.
Even with the current situation, Linden remains optimistic about whether the celebration will return for 2022.
“I was very sad to have to cancel it again this year and have hopes that we won’t cancel for the third time,” Linden said.
Student reactions
Students at the university have had mixed reactions to the cancellation of the 2021 April Craze. Mechanical engineering student Collin Charvat believes that not having the event this year is a good idea.
“Campus is dead and we are still in a critical time frame to limit contact,” Charvat said. “In addition, the current fiscal position of the university lends itself perfectly to large events like that being canceled.”
Computer science major Jonathan Goble is disappointed by the news because he and many other students cannot celebrate the end of their school year and/or time at Wright State by attending.
“I transferred to Wright State in fall 2019 and am graduating in fall 2021, so this means I will never get to experience an April Craze,” Goble said.
