Stories in The Diamondback about how students were wrong in the riots Saturday night and how the city and university administration are fed up does not explain or convince anyone that police were justified in using excessive force. There is a fine line between celebrating and rioting, but this city hasn’t seen a riot since 2002. All the so-called riots since then have been celebrations.
The Diamondback reported these statistics about the crowd: About 3,000 people gathered on Route 1 Saturday, 14 of whom were arrested — that’s 0.467 percent of the crowd. That’s not to say there weren’t other people there who should not have been, but that’s not even one-half of a percent. What?! Half of those arrested don’t even attend the university, according to The Diamondback.
University officials said they had to spend $110,000 on the riot for police and gear. I was off the campus before the game even started, and there were helicopters and police already patrolling Route 1 — so which came first, the riot or the cost of the riot? I think it was a self-fulfilling prophecy. Route 1 was shut down before anyone got down there.
No one seems to be putting these things together, so I’ll do it for everyone: The administration expects riots, the student body expects riots and police like hitting women in the face with a baton. Police are not blameless, and the students are not blameless; however, some discretion must be exercised. Using horses to corral people off the street that was closed for them in the first place is self-defeating. If students can’t stand in the middle of Route 1, then don’t shut it down.
The $110,000 the university spent is our money as tuition-paying students (not wholly ours, but it would seem we paid a decent amount of it). People don’t want to pay police to shoot them in the face; people don’t pay to have other people hurt them. We certainly don’t want the university spending that kind of money when every year tuition rises by at least 5 percent. We have 42 percent of eligible students opting out of meal plan focus dates, and yet the university spends $110,000 on a riot and has the nerve to say it doesn’t like spending that money with the budget so small.
Don’t spend the money on riot police. Why can’t the university host a celebration on Route 1 with less money?
Where’s all the property destruction? Two signs were taken down and there were some Dumpster fires. The signs can’t cost more than $1,500 each, if that. And trash in the Dumpsters was going to go to the dump anyway; that doesn’t count as destruction. No stores were looted, no people were robbed, there were no guns (except for those on our loving and caring police officers), there were no stampedes (except for our loving and caring police officers and their lovable ponies) and there were no injuries (except for our loving and caring police officers and their Nerf bats).
Who caused what? Who was hired to do what and did not do what they were supposed to do? It is my understanding the police motto is to “serve and protect,” not nearly kill someone and then laugh at him or her. I resent the fact those in administrative positions have the audacity to say all students are to blame. Without students, there wouldn’t be a university. The more pressure you put on a volcano, the bigger the eruption.
Kyle Thomas is a junior computer science major. He can be reached at shadym1lkman@yahoo.com.
