Halloween is a time for spooks, scares, festivities and fun. But make sure your scares only come from scary movies and haunted houses this year. Don’t forget the most important priority is your own safety.

With Halloween and a home football game against Big Ten rival University of Michigan both occurring on Saturday, the weekend is bound to be full of celebrations. Enjoy the weekend safely and responsibly so everyone else can as well.

Last year this campus saw its most serious safety threat on Halloween. The anonymous threat to shoot someone on Green Street brought out 200 police officers. Luckily, our campus made it through the holiday safely. We appreciate the efforts of the many people who worked that night to protect the students and this University.

Though we do not face such a serious scare this year, please don’t let your guard down. Police will still have a presence on campus streets this weekend. They are not out to get us but to keep us safe. Walk with someone to your friend’s party rather than getting behind the wheel tipsy. Know your limits if you are drinking this weekend. Most importantly, be on the look out for anything stranger than the regular spooky Halloween shenanigans.

We are all for tailgating and celebrating Halloween, so take the weekend to relax, dress up in costume and cheer as hard as you can for what would be a miraculous Illinois win. It’s great to get caught up in the holiday, dress up as someone different and forget about exams and term papers for a weekend. While we hope you enjoy this weekend of fun, remember we still have plenty of class left until finals.

Between the two celebrations this weekend, our campus will most likely host many visitors from other schools. We ask them to respect our University, clean up after themselves and act responsibly.

Whatever you plan to be for Halloween this weekend, be safe.