A student selling "Police Yourself" T-shirts and trucker hats hopes to add a little humor to the university campaign that has sparked fear among students for the past two weeks.
Junior Emily Radecki, who came up with the idea Thursday, will be selling the apparel from 11:30 p.m. Friday to 3:30 a.m. Saturday in the Village at $10 apiece. She said she chose the phrase because many students are upset about the police's recent crackdown on house parties, and the apparel will add some sarcasm to the campaign.
"Ball State is making an effort to do something about the violence on campus, but they're not taking the right approach by not asking students what's wrong," Radecki said.
Underage drinking is not why two students died this year, she said. She said the police department's push to combat underage drinking is unfairly destroying the night life at Ball State.
"Pretty soon, students will want to go home on the weekends, because they don't want to be around here because they're going to get in trouble," Radecki said.
After standing in front of Dill Street Bar and Grill Friday night, Radecki said she sold about 20 shirts and five hats in her first three hours there.
"It's selling like hotcakes," she said. "In the first five minutes, I had people coming out and buying T-shirts and hats, and I hadn't even finished setting up."
While in the Village, Radecki said students told her they were reluctant to go to the bars for fear of being arrested for public intoxication. Even nondrinkers are affected, she said.
"Nondrinkers don't even want to go and be with friends because if they go with someone who drinks, they're afraid they're going to get in trouble," Radecki said. "All students are affected."
Like Radecki, senior Jason Sill said he feels the police department has not taken responsibility for the university's recent tragedies and is instead placing the blame on students through the crackdown on underage drinking.
What Radecki is doing provides a way for students to unite and make fun of the campaign, Sill said.
"I'm supporting anything we can do to unite students, even if it's something as small as selling hats and T-shirts," he said.
Sill, who wore his "Police Yourself" hat Monday and plans to buy a T-shirt soon, said he thinks Radecki's efforts will be successful.
"It already has been," he said. "She could go pretty far with this."
Radecki said she doesn't have a particular goal in mind in terms of how many items are sold. She just wants to see them filtered through the student body between now and finals week.
"As long as there's a demand, I'll be the supplier," Radecki said.
Sill said students should continue to take action and show they do care about what the police are doing on their campus.
"I think Emily's doing the right thing," he said. "It's a bold statement for her to do this; it's a good start."
The shirts and hats are navy blue with yellow letters and are available in sizes youth large to extra-large.
Ball State's American Marketing Association is also coming out with black "Police Yourself" T-shirts with white letters. The T-shirts will be available next week at $10 apiece in sizes small to extra-large. If interested, students can send an e-mail to policeyourself@yahoo.com to place an order.
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