Halloween revelers will not go hungry if the university has its say.
In a meeting with Associated Students of Madison's Halloween Planning Committee Monday, university officials offered $16,000 of additional funding for Halloween.
Nearly $15,000 of the projected funding will pay for food to be distributed on Library Mall from midnight to 3 a.m. the Sunday of Halloween weekend.
\We feel that the food in particular is an added feature to the night's events and will help with the crowd control,"" Special Assistant to the Chancellor LaMarr Billups said. ""It would give folks another activity to be involved in other than purely drinking.""
Billups said the university originally strongly discouraged after-hours events on Library Mall; however, after the city approved the permit for late night events, the university said they would be as supportive as possible in order to prevent a third year of riots.
Policy, Alternatives, Com-munity and Education Director Susan Crowley suggested that food be offered since many venues will not be open late on Halloween weekend.
""The whole idea is really to blunt the impact of the alcohol on an empty stomach. That is where a lot of students get into trouble-they don't eat enough while they're drinking,"" Crowley said.
Officials are confident mass amounts of free pizza will not welcome a riotous atmosphere.
""We talked with the students [Monday] about a way to make sure that the food is delivered in a safe way and we realize there is going to be a large crowd that would come for free food,"" Billups said. ""But we have some confidence that ASM will be able to organize this in a way that everybody will still be safe.""
UW-Madison junior and committee member Matt Rink said the committee will form their own logistics and procedures to ensure safety when distributing the free food.
While Rink said the committee only expected a total of $2,000 from the university, the university also allocated $1,000 to help support hayrides for the daytime family festival as well as advertising throughout the community. Previously, university officials agreed to donate $16,000 toward stadium-style lighting up and down State Street Halloween weekend.
""We need some time-at least a year hiatus-in order to gain control over this event again,"" Billups said. ""We needed to make a change in this year's program in order to accomplish that goal.""
