Incoming University Police Chief David Mitchell said he wants to tackle the rioting culture at this university head on.
Animosity bred on that night between students and police continues to linger on the campus, complicating Mitchell’s desire to create a plan that can keep the peace after big games. Mitchell knows there is little police can do to end celebration on Route 1.
For him, the top priorities are to minimize property destruction and keep students safe. Mitchell is optimistic, but students maintain there’s little he can do to eliminate riots completely.
Mitchell said he is approaching it with an open mind.
“Shucks, I celebrate; I think we all do,” Mitchell said. “Whenever we beat Duke there’s a need to celebrate. The trick is to celebrate in a safe way.”
Once he arrives at the university, Mitchell said he plans to give students a seat at the table to find a compromise between the desire to celebrate and the need to maintain order.
In 2002, as superintendent of the Maryland State Police, Mitchell helped control the crowds during the men’s basketball team’s National Championship run. At the time, he instituted a bonfire on Fraternity Row, which he said helped quell the destruction at the intersection of Knox Road and Route 1 in the riots following the National Semifinal and National Championship games.
“The students who went seemed to have a great time,” he said of the bonfire.
Once again, Mitchell hopes to find a tradition that allows students to get raucous while protecting property and people. He said a “one-size-fits-all” approach does not work and wants to establish a celebratory tradition that is unique to this campus. But he knows the group mentality can be a dangerous force.
“When you add alcohol to that,” he said, “look out.”
Earlier in the decade, administrators tried to use educational initiatives like the “Act Like You Know” campaign to prevent riots, but the efforts were unsuccessful. Students responded with actlikeyougiveaf—.com.
“I don’t think we’ve managed the situation on Route 1,” Vice President for Student Affairs Linda Clement said.
Outgoing university President Dan Mote said one of his regrets from his 12-year tenure with the university is not coming down harder on students who rioted, setting a dangerous precedent.
“I think we allowed the unrest to continue without clamping down harder,” Mote said. “I thought it might pass.”
Freshman letters and sciences major Ned Scher said the only way to truly put an end to rioting would be to institute a zero-tolerance policy that punishes students for being on the streets, rather than only taking actions against those who incite the mayhem.
But what administrators don’t understand, students said, is that they have their reasons for rioting.
“It’s a group mentality thing.”
“You feel safer when you see other people doing it.”
“The cops instigated it.”
More than anything, students pointed to the group nature of riots as having a sort of cloaking effect. After the Terps beat Duke on March 3, this sense of invisibility was all hundreds of students needed to join in on the first riot in more than a college generation.
But some students maintained the celebration would have settled, dispersed and not made a nationwide splash if police had let the party run its course.
“I thought it really just started out as people out in the streets celebrating, having a good time,” Scher said. “All the destruction and burning started after the police showed up.”
Since the night of mayhem, the story of what actually happened has developed slowly, changing dramatically along the way.
Sophomore Antonio Coughlin, who has developed relationships with many police officers through his internship with Park Security in his hometown of Brookline, Mass., said officers acted unprofessionally on the night of the riot.
“I know a lot of cops and they would never do that,” the anthropology major said. “Generally, I trust police. This [county], … I don’t know.”
Senior staff writer Kevin Robillard contributed to this report. present at umdbk dot com
