Police Use Tear Gas and Rubber Bullets to Disperse More Than 8,000
April 12, 2010 • By Kaleigh Somers and Matt Sutherland,
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HARRISONBURG — President Linwood Rose left no questions regarding his response to the JMU community via e-mail on Sunday evening, addressing those students who attended Springfest.
“Your collective behavior was an embarrassment to your university and a discredit to our reputation,” Rose said. He plans to handle similar situations even more seriously in the future.
The aftermath of Saturday’s block parties consisted of more than 30 arrests, a stabbing, extensive property damage and injured police and partygoers. The Harrisonburg community has not experienced a riot this serious in 10 years, when civil disobedience units responded to a crowd of more than 2,000 students.
Mayor Kai Degner plans to hear a report at Tuesday’s City Council meeting to assess the situation and determine how to improve upon the city’s policies, according to hburgnews.com.
Springfest is an annual, multi-day block party in Fox Hill Townhomes. After police warned residents that officers would be present in the area, the party moved to Forest Hills townhomes.
Police tried to control more than 8,000 people this year. Harrionsburg Police Department Lt. Kurt Boshart said approximately 2,000 people usually attend the party.
More than 200 officers from Augusta County, Rockingham County, JMU, Staunton and the Virginia State Police were called in, Boshart said.
Students received a text message from JMU’s emergency communications system ordering “Non-Residents of Village Lane to disperse from social events in that area immediately for safety reasons,” just after 6 p.m. Many said the text was delayed because of an overcrowded phone system.
After approaching riot status, officers threw grenades of tear gas at the crowd of more than 1,000, focusing their attention on those still loitering at 6:45 p.m. Some partygoers were also sprayed with pepper spray or hit with rubber bullets and beanbags.
Many people continued to stay in the area, saying they weren’t doing anything to incite a riot.
Officers were prepared to use necessary and appropriate forces to control the crowd.
“The process is actually very formal,” Boshart said. “Our officers are trained to handle any chemical charge. It’s about as formal of a process as you can get.”
Block party attendees were told Friday evening to leave Manor Circle and Sully Drive as well. According to HPD, management of complexes called officers in because they couldn’t handle the masses of partygoers. Management previously posted flyers warning residents of the violations associated with mass gatherings.
HPD: Visitors Cause Escalation
Boshart believes a large number of the crowd came in from different schools in the area and that led to the problems.
“We had people from Fairfax coming in with no ties to JMU whatsoever,” Boshart said. He added that others from Virginia Tech, Washington and Lee and William & Mary contributed to the overcrowding.
As the riot squad blocked incoming beer cans and liquor bottles being thrown, attendees turned the struggle into a game, cheering for the squad. Boshart said more than a dozen officers sustained minor injuries, including cuts and bruises from thrown beer bottles and rocks.
Boshart said three to four people were flown to U.Va Medical Center. He did not specify the exact injuries. Approximately 30 people were treated at Rockingham Memorial Hospital with unspecified injuries, according to the information Boshart had on Sunday afternoon.
One of the more serious injuries was an unidentified male who was also stabbed in the leg with an unknown object on the 1400 block of Devon Lane, Boshart said.
Charges to Continue
Boshart explained that people were told to stay away from the scene, otherwise they would be charged.
“With unlawful assembly, there’s no option — you have to leave,” Boshart said. “Even if you’re just standing there, you are in violation of the law.”
Boshart said most of the arrests stemmed from failure to disperse from a riot and being drunk in public.
Police did not know specifically how many were arrested because the various departments made their own arrests. Harrisonburg Police Department said it would work to get all names of those arrested by the various departments to release during today’s press conference. The time will be announced Monday morning.
A K-9 unit stood behind the squad. An ambulance on standby blocked off traffic at the top of Forest Hill Road.
Police remained on the premises for the rest of the evening, set for students who came back for a night of partying. As evening set in, the state police brought in a helicopter to help with aerial surveillance throughout the entire night.
“We had little satellite parties popping up in different locations throughout that housing area,” Boshart said. “We were responding to a lot more fight calls throughout the evening.”
Currently, HPD is collaborating with surrounding departments to figure out how to prevent the situation from occurring again.
“There’s a lot of work to be done, a lot of things to be organized,” Boshart said. “We’ll be sitting down to find out what things did work, what didn’t work with this situation.”
According to Boshart, police officers recorded the activities with video cameras. If HPD is able to identify perpetrators of illegal acts, then the police will use the footage to press further charges, Boshart said.
Judicial Affairs will also receive the arrest information for students.
Mixed Responses
Laura, a senior who lives in Forest Hills, experienced the full force of the onslaught. Patrons threw beer bottles that broke all her windows in the middle of the riot.
According to Laura, Springfest has never been this bad before. Police told her and her roommates if they left the area, they wouldn’t be able to come back to their home. She chose to stay.
Police presence “is what stopped the bottle throwing,” Laura said.
“There were several students that were thanking [police] repeatedly,” Boshart said. “When there’s alcohol, excessive drinking involved, the people in attendance are the ones who dictated what happened last night.”
Other people involved, including a 2009 JMU alumnus, who believed the police presence worsened the situation.
“When they came in, people started throwing beer bottles at them,” he said.
At about 6:40 p.m., the riot squad yelled through a megaphone: “Get down the hill” and “You need to move. Get off the property.”
One man was pushed down the hill by the team, who set a dog after him. Once at the bottom of the hill, he continued yelling back and forth with police until they came toward him, handcuffing him and arresting him. “Are you serious?” he asked, looking around.
Another man who was pushed said he didn’t do anything to deserve it, calling it “police brutality.”
“He came up with the shield and just pushed me,” said the student who did not want to be identified. “I wasn’t doing anything, just standing here.”
A student from Salisbury University, visiting friends for the weekend, said he was tear-gassed because “ignorant people threw bottles.”
The student reported coughing up blood for almost 10 minutes afterward.
Another student said the grenade exploded right in his face.
“I couldn’t move, breathe, talk, smile, for five minutes,” he said. Officers had to escort him away from the scene because he couldn’t see through his bloodshot eyes, he said.
Under Control in Hours
According to Boshart, HPD called for reinforcements at about 3:30 p.m., specifically a civil disturbance unit.
At 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, officers controlling traffic weren’t sure how much longer they’d be on guard, but were aggravated having been called in at the last minute.
Students in the Texaco parking lot were cleared out by 6:45 p.m. and about 10 police officers guarded the dirt hill bordering the back of the townhomes, but the other side held strong.
By 7:30 p.m. most of the crowd had vacated the area and were walking along Port Republic Road to get away from the tear gas. Many were disgruntled and commenting angrily about the way the situation was handled.
contact the news desk at breezenews@gmail.com
Updated: This article was corrected at 6:50 p.m. April 12 for a misattributed quote to Mike Myslinski. The quote was said by an unnamed JMU alumnus.
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72 Responses to “Police Use Tear Gas and Rubber Bullets to Disperse More Than 8,000”
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WOW. This is probably the most biased article I have seen. Really, Kaleigh Somers and Matt Sutherland? I thought the Breeze was suppose to be informational…. this makes me not want to read the Breeze again if you’re allowing an article this biased to be published.
You could at least get your facts right.. Springfest, which is the event on Friday and is traditionally held in the 1500 block of Fox Hills, was forced to be moved to The Manor at the last minute. Block Party, the event on Saturday has always been held in Forrest Hills.
the Breeze is the new Roanoke Times!!!!!!!
(that’s not a compliment)
Jane and Jonny need to both just look and see what happened. Its RIDICULOUS! I don’t care if this was biased! How in the world could it not be!?! Come on now! It was informational. Springfest, Block Party, whatever the heck it’s called it was terrible and uncalled for so why are you fighting the people who wrote this article?! They are just going by what information they have learned as facts and there are a lot of different stories going around. This is a disgrace to our community and whoever was a part of this should be kicked out of JMU and charged for their insanely immature behavior. I am glad people posted videos because then the proper suspects can be arrested.
Seemed pretty low key to me, I think we should take it up a notch in the Fall. Let’s hear it if you know what I’m talking about.
The facts are right, minus the location of Springfest (Fox Hill) and Block Party (the next day, in Forest Hill)… Read people’s comments and stories here: http://breezejmu.org/2010/04/11/post-your-stories-about-springfest/
We are all at fault- JMU students, the Police, property managers… But I’m guessing this will be a way from the administration to squash JMU traditions versus working with students and the community so we can live and play together…
Student authored articles like these give me renewed hope in my former student body. It’s nice to hear a commentary on the situation that doesn’t involve “FUCK THE PO-LICE, I HAVE MY RIGHTS.” No, no you don’t have rights when you’re lighting dumpsters on fire, throwing beer bottles at fellow students, and assaulting police officers. I graduated in May, and could not be more embarassed with the way the students at my alma mater acted. Sure there were a lot of visitors, but the video footage shows HORDES of people on balconies instigating the situation. Mob-mentality, also known as the “bunches of guys theory” in the realm of terroriism, is a dangerous, dangerous thing. Even if they weren’t doing anything, EVERY SINGLE ONE of those students who didn’t disperse the bottom of the manor deserved to get tear-gassed. Me and my friends did 20 minutes before any of that went down, and I still got tear-gassed because of the winds. But if that’s what needed to happen to maintain civic order than so be it. Thank you HPD.
Class of 2009
[...] } During the Cheat Sheet today, JP brought up the story about an 8,000 person block party at JMU where police had to use tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd. Below is actual footage [...]
As a recent alum, I heard about this through Elliot In The Morning on DC 101. Everyone at my work also listens to Elliot and knows that I attended JMU. I was embarrassed to say the least. While I know that the JMU police can make matters worse, I have to say I’m ashamed at the student body!
I attended HC last year and was appaled at the police for their increased paranoia and policing of tailgaters and students who were just having fun being students. These events will only fuel the fire from the city and school to increase policing of students and squashing of parties. I feel sorry for any current and future student who was not involved in these events as they will suffer and be denied the amazing memories I have of JMU.
Thanks for making this front-page news when we have thousands of visitors here for Choices. We are probably about to lose a big crop of the smartest students we had incoming for next year, since students who want prestige won’t go to places where kids get so out of control they light things on fire and need to be tear gassed.
Ugh. I have never been embarrassed to be a JMU student before, but I am today.
i dont feel like taking the time to articulate a thorough response but i would just like to tell dr. rose he’s email really upset me. he is the embarrassment. cutting 20+ sports teams so he can build a new stadium and try to turn our football team into a competitive div single a squad just so he cant compete in a pissing contest with tech and uva? crook.
wheres the support for your students who got wrongfully caught up in this situation? i dislike you president rose.
i dont blame the police for responding the way they did. if i was a cop i would sure as shit love to dress up in riot gear and throw some tear gas at obnoxious drunk college kids but dr. rose, who the hell do you think are?
breeze i dont expect you to publish that comment, why would you? but please pass the message along to dr. rose or the pr department. i am appalled.
You know Kevin, it’s because of people like you that these things happen. I used to be proud of JMU, but the more I see other students act like little kids, the more I realize that most of us college-aged people are beyond immature. We all consider ourselves “adults” but do adults act like that and run around drunk in the street provoking a riot? No. They don’t. Unless they are European and their team just lost the World Cup.
There is no reason for things like this to happen. I understand that students from other schools contributed to what happened, there is not denying it, but it still happened at JMU and was put together by JMU students. Grow up guys. You can’t do this stuff in the real world.
I’m an alumni, who was not in attendence at the block party this weekend, nor was I even in Harrisonburg, but this article is honestly a disgrace. It is THE most biased piece of journalism I have ever read, and you both should be ashamed for A) not taking the time to get your facts straight, and B) writing a completely biased article. You should know better.
Yes, I know the real issue hear is the events that unfolded on Saturday, and while I do not condone them, it is unfair to the readers to give them a biased opinion, rather than an informative article.
It takes years to build a reputation and one night to trash it. What is wrong with you people who participated in this riot? Is this what you’re in college for? To get drunk and destroy private property and assault police? There’s people who would give their right arms to have the freedom and opportunities that you have here at JMU. And this is what you do with it? You’d better grow up and get your priorities straightened out. The university should take a zero-tolerance approach to such asinine behavior. You want to get drunk and riot? Fine, go someplace else and do it and get the hell out of JMU. You’re taking up space that somebody else would appreciate far more than you. There’s far more to life than getting drunk and fighting. Grow the F up.
I’m an alumus. Honestly, this isn’t a matter of a biased article. That’s just a very minor issue here.
In the past, JMU students have been able to claim that they know how to party and have done, for the most part, that to a reasonably responsible degree.
It doesn’t matter about the article. The YouTube videos speak for themselves. The fact that the HPD, VA State Police, and others had to come in and use riot gear to break this up is absolutely rediculous. JMU students should be very ashamed of the public display of very bad judgement and irresponsible behavior. I’m extremely embarrassed to be a part of the JMU community. If those students realize that in three years or less they will be on their own, they have a lot of maturing to do.
This is an absolute embarrassment and there is simply no excuse for this kind of behavior.
You are partially blaming this on a huge influx of WILLIAM AND MARY students? Are you ****ing kidding me? I promise the docile bookworms from Williamsburg did not terrorize your community.
@johnny law…why don’t you be man enough to deliver your message to President Rose yourself? Get over the Title IX crap…it’s a done deal.
@rioters…get over yourselves. Oh too bad you didn’t get to party like you wanted to, but don’t worry…you are definitely making asses of yourselves now. Time to grow up.
Really? You want to blame The BREEZE? Don’t you dare. Their responsibility is to report the news… not make it all pretty and palatable. It’s not their fault that whomever planned the party failed to 1) consider the other individuals who lived in the area 2) consider the impact of viral advertising 3) plan for what could happen.
You know… there was a time where JMU students partied hard. Oh yeah… we did it, and in large, LARGE groups where we brought our own kegs (Duckfest, anyone?) and needed a space as large as the fairgrounds to hold all of us. There’s one big difference. When we were told that the “cops were coming”–regardless of where the party was, or whether or not Mommy and Daddy could bail us out, we LEFT. That’s right… we respected our law enforcement. One, because it was the right thing to do. Two, because we knew that our actions have consequences… and some that could be lasting consequences. In short, we had accountability for our actions and respect for others. That’s what I see lacking–not only in the planning and execution of this “party,” but also in the aftermath where people dare to hurl insults at the student-run newspaper or at the President of the University.
Get this straight, Party People. You screwed up. Royally. You’ve embarrassed yourselves, your parents, your classmates, your alumni and your state. You don’t deserve an education at JMU, if you’re going to spit in the face of law and order. You don’t deserve a second shot. This is an egrigious disregard for responsibility, and tradition or not, is not accepted OR tolerated by anyone.
Get the hook, Dr. Rose. Get them OUT of here. I don’t want these jerks to be able to carry the same credentials as me or my dear alumni friends. They don’t deserve them… because they evidently haven’t learned ANYTHING while at JMU.
Whether or not this article is biased should have nothing to do with the situation. As far as I am concerned, the only people who will find this article biased are those who somehow think there is an excuse for what happened. I am a recent graduate of JMU, now a staff member at JMU and resident of Harrisonburg. Thankfully I was out of town this weekend, but what a surprise to find this behavior spread all over the local news, youtube and even CNN when I returned. What an embarassment! What could these people have possibly been protesting? Their right to drink underage, be drunk in public and destroy someone else’s private property? No one has even mentioned the financial costs of the event. State, city and county police, EMTs and RMH staff working overtime and mostly at the cost of the taxpayer. What a waste of public funds, as if our state, city and taxpayers aren’t hurting enough we have to spend our money dealing with such immature and dangerous behavior.
I think many people are missing the key factor that contributed to this riot. NON - JMU STUDENTS. Every article clearly states 8,000 people attended instead of the 3,000 to 4,000 last year. Where did these people come from? JMU has been having crazy parties all year with no effects like these. Clearly people from out of town came in, and not living or going to school here decided to go nuts. I’m sure there are many JMU students who participated, but I feel like the brunt of the blame was out of town students deciding to go crazy.
You people need to seriously relax, everyone is acting like JMU had some golden reputation before this happened. Honestly if I was a high school student and I saw this it wouldn’t make any difference to me whatsoever. If those kids aren’t smart enough to realise this doesn’t happen every weekend, maybe they don’t need to be here anyway.
Everyone keeps talking about JMU’s “reputation” and its cracking me up. Outside of Fairfax county where 95% of the students come from JMU has NO reputation at all. I was on the way from George Mason to VT when I saw the school on the side of the interstate and decided to check it out. I’m from Virginia and I had never even heard of this place. You are really, really delusional if you think this school has a far-reaching 5 star reputation. Do we even have any PhD programs? I mean, our most famous alumni is a mediocre country singer and he dropped out.
The only long lasting effect from this will be that the cops will be quicker to pounce on parties that attract a crowd. There is no reputation to destroy, and nothing these idiots did this weekend is going to affect the way a potential employer looks at your degree.
Also, how is this article biased? It simply explains what happened and from my experience seems pretty accurate.
I agree with “Recent JMU Alumni”, who said that “the only people who will find this article biased are those who somehow think there is an excuse for what happened”. There are far too many of you people out there who are making excuses and blaming the police for what happened. I was not there, so I do not know which came first: the tear gassing or the bottle throwing, the rubber bullets or the fires, etc etc. However, as far as I’m concerned, IT DOESN’T MATTER. Get over yourselves and realize that regardless, the actions of the students were UNACCEPTABLE. I am sick of hearing even my own friends argue that the police acted first, so somehow that makes the fires, the bottle throwing, the glass breaking and the overall destruction of property perfectly called-for. Chris Seibert was right, this isn’t how an adult acts in the real world. If you are unhappy with the way someone is acting (like in the this case, the police) you don’t go setting stuff on fire and chucking glass bottles at peoples’ heads. That’s barbaric and downright uncivilized. All those who participated (whether they be JMU students or out-of-towners) should be absolutely ashamed of themselves.
Stupid kids, lucky I wasn’t there to straighten them out.
I agree Steve..
As an alumni, I am ashamed to call JMU my alma mater. It’s ridiculous that this happened and that students are not even taking responsiblility for their own actions. The fact that they blame the cops for this is ludicrous. Cops are there to keep things under control and help keep the community safe. Cops are always out on weekends monitoring parties; they only step in when things get out of control. Throwing beer cans at others and setting trash cans on fire is irresponsible and something you would not expect from college students. I just hope one day students will learn….
As a Harrisonburg resident, I am disgusted at the comments by the JMU students on here who believe that they are entitled to a party of this size/nature. From an estimate that I heard from one Harrisonburg police officer, your party will cost the city of Harrisonburg approximately $50,000 to pay for the overtime necessitated by this event. Please remember that you are guests in this city. Members of this community want to see you thrive. We want to see you have an enjoyable college experience (and most of us are ok with that involving some “responsible indulgence”), but you crossed the line this weekend. Stop pointing fingers and start figuring out how you’re going to prevent it from happening again.
Thanks to all the people working hard to devalue the degree I just got from JMU.
Kevin Anderson–
You’re kidding, right? You could have at least checked WIkipedia before posting that load of junk on here. Yes, we have quite a few noteworthy and notable grads. We’ve also got Doctoral programs. Anything else you want to try and use to deflect the seriousness of this situation?
We had a GREAT reputation. I’ve encountered so many alumni ALL over the world who continue to wear the Purple and Gold with great pride–on the red carpet in Hollywood after writing the screenplay to Legally Blonde and countless other hit movies, singing on stage with John Mayer, playing guitar in the band Chicago, in Broadway shows (yes, ON Broadway), in the Dave Matthews Band (wow… that was 2 JMU grads), and those were just MY classmates. There are COUNTLESS others. Look ‘em up.
Seriously… what’s your deal?
I was in attendance at this party and let me tell you that after going to Block party during the four years I attended JMU and living in Forrest Hills for two of those years, this was absolutely inexcusable. In years previous, there was a tremendous police presence from the get-go, walking up and down Forrest Hills from the early morning hours till the party began to fizz out at night, this year, I did not see one police officer until about 1:30 in the afternoon when there was 4 officers trying to clear out 8,000 students from the street, so an Ambulance could pass. These four officers had to give up and obviously retreated to call in reinforcements. The police presence was not felt until it was way too late. In the future, the police need to be there in mornings and stay throughout the whole day. Not only did I feel safer, but I had a better time when they were there, not to just arrest drunk kids, but to just make sure nothing got out of hand, and arresting the few drunk idiots that decided to act a fool in front of a police officer.
This event is no secret. It has been a tradition (if I can call it that anymore) for years. It is not something that sprang out of nowhere, everyone new the date and time months in advance. I believe the party was extremely out of control, when I was unable to even move anymore due to the insane amount of people. I went inside when the police advised and watched several people be ignorant and stupid, thinking they were tight for launching liquor bottles and rocks at Police that were obviously trying to help the situation. I am embarrassed by everyone that contributed to the violence that has given the world a new reputation on the school that gave me not only a degree but countless memories that I will cherish forever.
@Kevin Anderson: 95% of JMU is from Fairfax? Get over your NOVA self, you obviously lived under a rock for having never heard of JMU until you passed it from MASON!?! going to VT. Ask how many people have ever heard of Mason outside of NOVA….get out of here man…
I’ve been to block party/springfest/whatever it’s called for the past 4 years… Never any problems such as this… I was at the first house broken up on block party, the end of forest hills where the riot squad first showed up… Before they showed up nothing was out of the ordinary. Just kids partying… as SOON as the riot squad showed up people started testing their limits and things snowballed from there. Did JMU really think the party was going to really be cancelled??? Of course it was going to get out of control. I believe the cancellation was a stupid move and hold whoever “cancelled” it responsible for the outbreak. Take away a persons freedom and they will rebel…
To the girl Ashley that stated how disappointed she is that this will deter smart and talented students from coming to JMU:
Do you not remember the massacre at Virginia Tech just a few years ago? Crazy, uncalled for, unfortunate things happen everywhere. Many people were concerned after the shootings that potential new students would be turned away, and yet they still have people enrolling.
This does not ‘devalue’ your education from JMU. It makes the community look ridiculous, but a riot has nothing to do with your degree.
Moving forward, I beleive a cooperative spirit between the local police force and the student body is necessary in order for this not to occur again. In spite of the negativity swirling around this chaotic event, this can be thought of as a learning experience for those involved.
Every generation of students at JMU has this type of wake-up call. How they react at this point is a true test of their integrity and spirit towards those that chose to enforce the rules. Furthermore, I beleive those students who decide to act out again should be taken to task and challenged to improve their own personal moral fiber by working in a community service environment to better understand the plight of civil servants upholding the laws of the land.
And, if not, I here by give the Harrisonburg Police Department my vote to be able to shoot on site those unruly jack-ass kids.
The cops in Harrisonburg are idiots. They were loving every second of Saturday, getting to feel all macho with their plastic shields and chemical weapons. They probably went home to their trailers that night, put on a little Kenny Chesney, popped open a Bud Light and told their ugly wives about how they made a difference in the community that day. They gathered up the family, pointed to the high school diploma on the wall sitting in a $3 frame from Wal-Mart and told their kids that one day you too can save the world one college party at a time. All you need is strait C’s, a bully complex, a love for guns and a hatred of those damn liberal college kids. Congrats though HPD, the weapons made by people smarter than you worked. I hope everyone at Sunday service gave you a big pat on the back for teaching us a lesson.
I’m an alumnus who was at the last riot in 2003. As I recall, the police were quite overbearing in their attempts to subdue the out of control element in the crowd that time. I wasn’t there on Saturday, so I can’t really comment this time. What is certain, is that every YouTube video of this debacle makes the entire student body look like drunken , whiny, spoiled brats who wanted to act like they were protesting the flipping Vietnam war or something. If you stayed in that mess and got a dose of pepper spray or a rubber bullet to the sternum, you completely deserved it. I partied so much at that school that I barely made it out alive, but I left with my dignity and a 3.5. You guys make it look like a school for the developmentally challenged now. What happened to the days of station parties and police evasion? You guys need to use those noodles of yours to figure out how to not incite the cops and still have your fun anyway. Also, I’m willing to bet that if most of you check your bank accounts, you’ll quickly realize that you DO NOT own that town, or even a small piece of it.
BTW…. good job on dropping from the Playboy top 10 as well. For shame.
BREEZE— There are haters everywhere. Keep on writing guys, I’ve always loved it, always will. Thanks for the Chick-Fil-A coupons too!
I am an alumni from way back in the day, graduated in 1989 and I lived in Forest Hills for my Junior and Senior year. These parties were going on 20 years ago and college drinking and partying was accepted back then and glossed over as part of the “college experience” - but it is not 1989 anymore. Believe me, I did my share of partying - but looking at these comments I see a misunderstanding and minimization of the situation. Folks, there were 8000 people in a very small area, underage drinkers and poor behavior that led to someone calling the police. Once the police are called, they have an obligation to secure the area if it has become dangerous. Throwing bottles and rocks at the police just because they show up is stupid. This behavior easily escalated what could have simply been breaking up a huge party with some “drunk in public” arrests, into a riot. Surrounding jurisdictions and the State Police were called in, tear gas and rubber bullets were used to subdue a crowd - this is no joke. I’m sure there were people from outside JMU that caused some of this, but don’t use that as an excuse. As another poster stated, these things don’t happen in real life. The Harrisonburg resident that posted has every reason to be mad, they pay taxes to cover these services and this is their home. You would all be lucky to live in such a beautiful area when you are married and raising a family. I love the school, the town and I’m sure the student body is pretty cool too, but to those that make excuses for this type of behavior - you are going to have a rough time in life.
JD - are you serious? It is people like you who are giving JMU a bad name. I’ll bet you were on the front lines Saturday night, stumbling around, hurling glass bottles and setting fires…in general making yourself look like a total idiot. Are you one of the people in the Breeze this morning flipping the bird? So classy.
As a senior I worry the future degrees of current students and those of the thousands of alumni have been devalued due to the events that transpired this Saturday. It’s possible the police may not have been prepared to handle the situation, but the we have to put the vast majority of the responsibility on ourselves. I don’t see how anyone that stuck around could have thought anything positive was going to happen. Throughout my college career I have partied A LOT. I get that people make mistakes or what not, I think the drinking age should be 18, but also I have had many interactions with police officers while always showing them respect, which in turn was reciprocated. Collaboration with the community and the HPD is essential to preserve the integrity of our University. I hope any student that was charged with anything violent over the weekend gets expelled. My message for those that want to glorify this situation is “Fuck you, you fucking asshole (or bitch).”
What bothers me the most about this entire weekend huge amounts of blame towards JMU students when so many of us who were there know that most of the problems were caused by people from outside of Harrisonburg. Yes I understand JMU students may have created the event but there’s a reason this event has occurred in a safe manner in the past and that was due to the lack of people from outside of the community. We may like to party but we still respect each other and our property which is why on Sunday you could see all of the outsiders leaving while a large amount of JMU students were outside working to clean this mess.
Taxpayer money down the drain. Glug, glug, glug. Nice work for absolutely nothing gained.
PS- University administrations generally treat programs with high revenue as a priority. It’s obvious Rose and Co. want to do what App State has done with it’s football program and turn it into a major revenue stream. It’s sad and pathetic, but it’s true. JMU administrators have little to no academic backbone.
I am a junior here and attended springfest, although left before things got of hand. keep in mind that the below comments are not from an alum or anyone else looking in from the outside.
to all you retarded uneducated “rebels” get a life and use some damn discretion. I believe in a healthy dose of anarchy (but not the hurting kind) and questioning the status quo, but what’s with this “take away someone’s freedom and they rebel” crap? you’re putting this up at the level of Kent state or something. this is nothing at all like that. we weren’t fighting for any cause, it was just a bunch of idiotic drunks intent on ridiculous partying.
You are a spoiled asshole who clearly has no perspective on anything whatsoever and need to spend some time learning what it actually means to take someone’s freedom. you know, i’m always down with fun pranks, gags, even a bit more dangerous fun, but this is the first time i’ve ever been embarrassed to be a part of this school, and that’s probably the saddest part.
to everyone who’s putting the blame on other schools, man the fuck up and take responsibility. true, it might not have gotten so out of hand if there weren’t so many visiting, but A) I still saw my fair share of JMU students doing beyond disgusting/stupid things and, B) everyone looking from the outside in to our situation is not going to put the blame on other kids. They’re gonna blame it on JMU. it was our fault and we have to man up and take responsibility.
finally, i do believe the fault doesn’t just rest on one group of people. JMU students were stupid, but law enforcement could’ve handled it a bit better. The mindset of the cops i saw was “i’m a cop in a college town and am looking for an excuse to do something like this.” They should’ve taken more preventative measures rather than intrusive ones. honestly though, that’s not a completely ridiculous thought process. i’m sure if i was a cop, tear gassing a bunch of obnoxious drunk college students who do nothing to give back to Harrisonburg would be the icing on top of my day.
cheers
I just dont undderstand why people stayed. Why wouldnt you leave when bottles were being thrown…or when the police started using tear gas, dogs, rubber bullets, pepper spray and bean bags. Im not saying I didnt enjoy this weekend, but no one fought or shanked each other with broken glass at my party on saturday. We should all just be happy that no one was killed. How was lighting a dumpster on fire the appropriate reaction by the way? Im honestly curious, please someone who stayed answer these questions. Im not trying to be condesending. I just dont get it. I turned around and went home when the first bottle went flying because nothing about wasted assholes on a hill seemed fun to me in the first place.
I graduated way back in 1993 and live in Miami now. I cannot believe the situation escalated to this extent. The University seems as if it was totally unprepared for a crowd of this size for an annual event. Why? The party happens yearly. Early police presence and monitoring and some early DIP arrests to serve as a deterrent may have cowed some of these kids before they became disorderly. However, these are kids, not adults, and if my kid went to an event of that size that had no security and was hurt, I would be enraged. Clearly there was no planning by the University or the Town for the event and mix alcohol, JMU students, non JMU students, and amped us, suited up local (for the most part) riot police, the inevitable happened. No JMU student should have been shot with rubber bullets or tear gassed except as a very last resort and personal self-defense by the officer. Students hurling bottles at the Police and challenging them in any physical manner was totally wrong and improper. But, adults know that a situation mixing all those people and alcohol is always a danger. Shame on JMU and the town for not being prepared for protecting the kids from themselves and for being such a disorganized mess. JMU is not the West Bank and this should never have risen to this level. The school and town get an “F” for coordination and diligence and the students an “F” for not dispersing and showing restraint. But in the end, the University owes these kids a duty to protect them from their immature impulses and have basic crowd-control measures in place. Hence, police at sporting events, concerts etc.. Really, JMU administration, what were you thinking? And, students, raves and riots? When did you all get so absurd. Are you all that bored? When I went to JMU, people were cool, except for the occasional drunk idiot. No one would challenge the police, we would just move the party. Disappointing display by everyone.
@JD: Since when did Liberal=idiocy?
You weren’t marching in a protest, you weren’t demonstrating against a war, you weren’t protesting human rights violations. You were taking part in a drunken riot. Those police officers that you seem to enjoy degrading so much, showed a level a humanitarianism that you would do well to emulate. You, and those like you, certainly showed no such thought to the other people who live in this communtity along you.
Purple, Gold and Red.
NEVER. BEEN. EMBARRASSED. TO. BE. A. JMU ALUMNA. IN. MY. LIFE.
until now.
Having a few buds on a hill in the ‘Burg is not a new thing. My generation partied hard at Hillside (where the cushy end zone seats in the stadium are now). We watched the football games and Marching Royal Dukes and drank a few sitting at Hillside. We would have never dreamed to throw rocks at people — and then BLAME others from other schools???!!?? Or, blame the folks we were throwing the rocks at!!!!????! GROW UP, or better yet, take your stupidity elsewhere.
Inspired by Confederate History Month, the Virginia state police set forth to decimate the innocent students in what will hence forth be known as the Second Battle of Forest Hills. Twas a swift and ruthless massacre of the unarmed students simply trying to relieve the stresses of studying for the weekend. The conservative forces of the HPD had no mercy on the innocent though, constantly pelting the helpless students with nonlethal bullets and chemical warfare over and over until there were none left.
May you rest in peace freedom….rest in peace…
I really hope members of the breeze read my post and can write an article about this or research it some more. What I don’t understand is where was this increased police presence that was written about before block party in the breeze? I hardly recall seeing any police officers throughout the entire day. In the Fall the first few weeks of school you knew they were cracking down on underage drinking and people breaking the law with two stations of at least 3 officers on the top of Port Republic. One station on the corner of 865 and another at Neighbors. Plus you would see numerous bike patrol, foot patrol, and police cars driving throughout the neighborhoods. You knew not to even come close to the street or sidewalk and you would get grabbed immediately and given a citation. Before the party even got out of hand there was absolutely no police presence at all in Forest Hills. Of course it will get out of hand if you don’t see ANYONE getting punished for breaking the law. Years prior you knew the rules or you knew you were going to get a citation for either drunk in public or open container (sidewalk/street). Police would grab you if you did something wrong and write you up immediately. I saw NONE of that on Saturday (or even Friday). It’s almost as if they let it get out of hand just so this block party will never happen again, thus furthering JMU/Harrisonburg locals, HPD, and Judicial’s mission of eliminating underage drinking and making sanctions even harsher on students partying (eliminating the “party school”). I really am concerned as to why in the first 3 weeks of school they could have such a great presence on campus but then when they knew the BIGGEST party of the year was occurring they completely disappeared.
All it would have taken was some foot patrols giving citations and also a couple check points at the top of Port Republic Road and I guarantee this party would not have been a problem. HPD would have also achieved there mission of giving out tons of citations for open containers/drunk in public (making money for the city), but because they had no police presence at all they essentially brought it upon themselves.
Why not do what worked in the Fall? It was a win/win. Safe partying and plenty of citations to fill up Harrisonburgs courts.
One more thing I forgot to mention. Especially after reading the article in the breeze about the police pressuring this weekend. I expected it to be even tougher than it was in the Fall. (more check points, more citations). However when you don’t see anyone getting in trouble for their actions, combined with thousands of drunks (many that don’t go here or know about the rules/laws in harrisonburg), and you see absolutely no police presence, you should never expect something like a riot to occur, but you should definitely expect it to get wayyyyy wayyyy out of hand. How would out of towners know that drinking in the streets is against the law if they don’t see anyone getting in trouble for doing it? That helped lead to the mass mob in the streets. HPD can be blamed for letting the situation get out of hand. The party goers can be blamed for the “Riot” because that is never unacceptable, but in my opinion a huge escalation should have been foreseeable, especially with the lack of police presence from the beginning.
To all of the alumni that attended the JMU during the fall of 2000 can you please get off your high horses? Do you forget your own riot during the fall block party? That one had cars being flipped, made the front page of the Washington Post and was overall much worse than this. Come down from your ivory towers, already.
I wasn’t there on Saturday, but god knows I heard about it. The people I feel the worst for are the people who work at RMH. They don’t like being so overloaded by people who need to get their stomach pumped that they don’t get a chance to sit down. Yea, I’m sure that they grumble about JMU students, but I highly doubt that any of them wish actual harm or any of this “taking away our freedom stuff.”
This weekend was either epic or sucked depending on your point of view. Its done and its in the past, now lets move on and fix it. What I love about JMU is that there have been sooo many times when we’ve come together and made an effort, and tried to do something to help either the JMU community, the Harrisonburg community, or VA at large. Whether or not you were there, recognize the fact that there was a riot, it did get out of control, and that there was damage done. period. Now lets show everybody that we’re not just a bunch of drunken idiots, that we can own up to what happened, and that this we learned from this out-of-the-ordinary situation. (kudos to the kids in the orange vests cleaning as early as sunday morning, you guys rock!).
The Breeze is and always has been junk.
I do agree that our reputation may be damaged, just because it happened on our territory, but we (the students/the university) should not get blamed for the riot. Most of the attendees were not all JMU students…. My friend had 15 people staying at her place just for Springfest… another person overheard people from Florida and California! When outsiders come just to party hard… they are not going to care about the destruction that goes on, it isn’t their territory.
Sure, we party every weekend… but we are not that stupid.
FROM A GRADUATING SENIOR TO UNDERCLASSMEN AND INCOMING FRESHMAN:
As I graduate James Madison, I will remember all of the AMAZING things about this place, not the one incident that set this University’s reputation literally up in flames. You should not let this event, which in my opinion was a disgrace on behalf of the student population, tarnish the opinion of the place I have called home for the past 4 years.
This is STILL a great place to go to school and will only get better from this experience. This University will learn from this event and work harder than ever to become safer and re-build the positive reputation it has made for itself as one of the leading public Universities in the US.
Despite this weekends events, James Madison STILL holds the Number 1 position for most competitively ranked Universities in the US, it is STILL ranked 14th nationally for its community service efforts, STILL the top public, master’s-level university in the South, STILL one of the nation’s best values for a college, and will STILL and ALWAYS be a great place to spend four years academically, socially and developmentally as a person and adult.
I will not look back at my college experience and dwell on the fact that one weekend was taken out of control. Instead, I will look back and remember the amazing things this University SHOULD be known for. Its beautiful campus and laying on the quad on warm spring days, the professors who amaze me with their intellect and willingness to relate with students, the spirit and pride from the student body and the safety I feel here because of the trustworthy student population.
I am confident that I will never meet more amazing friends than those I have made here, never eat better than I have at one of our ELEVEN amazing dining facilities, never have a boss as friendly and willing to offer help as readily as every one of my professors, and never meet a more friendly, spirited, proud and opening student body than those at JMU.
Do not let these events, which were rare and escalated, discourage you from being proud of this University or from attending here. I know I will always be proud to call myself a JMU Duke and will be proud of the place I can call home for years to come.
As a parent of JMU Soph., I am very thankful she and her friends left the gattering when the central text came to each student. It was a warning, that students failed or chose to ignore.
My husband and I watched all the video’s, have read all news, and we are disqusted at the disrespect to the law enforcement. Saying F u, throwing bottles at them, standing in front of them - challening them. It is all on tape, and the police have tapes as well. So when your parents look at these, and see their child standing on the roof of a window, holding a bottle of booze and balancing from foot to foot. What goes through that boy’s parents mind? I believe he lived there, noone from other schools could have come into his apartment and display themselves as he did.
Then looking at the total number of students standing on the deck, the wood was starting to sway in the middle. Underneath, was full of other students. Do you think these kids thought of the safety in numbers. How many deaths result from decks falling from too much weight?
Then you see in middle of those same apartments, kids would go to center and wait to have cans, bottles, coolers thrown at them. How stupid is that????
And who will clean all that garbage up. Who will get every piece of glass out of the grass, off the roads???? Who is cleaning up your campus?
I liked Dr. Rose statement, short and to the point.
Question: If students were airlifted to hospital in VA., how are they? What about number of students who went to aid in Harrisonburg, how are they doing???
Has anyone checked on them. Which one of you threw something to hurt your fellow student, friend, roommate.
How many had objects thrown thru your bedroom window during the nite, from someone still outside drunk. Who pays for that window repair????
For some reason, you kids think you are above the law. Life is full of laws and rules, why can’t you follow them? If you plan on working, guess what? They will have rules to follow or you will be out on your butt.
So, as parents, do we pay more tuition to cover these stupid ways of each student involved? I would love to read all the parents comments. Did you see your child on the video’s? Was your child the one’s arrested, stabed or in the hospital? Or was your child the ones pushing and pulling the lamp post on the sidewalk, that is on video, too. Look for YOUR child.
I think all of you need to write letters of opology for causing such a mess on your beautiful campus and off campus housing.
Way to go, JMU Students. You are successfully plowing ahead at making my diploma and yours useless. Good luck finding a job with a diploma from a school represented by completely irresponsible idiots.
-Bronwyn, Class of ‘98
My favorite is the part where students are seen ripping yet another an entire tree out of the ground, only to pass it down the line and toss it into the bonfire. The ripped-off handrail was a nice touch to the blaze as well; as was the stop sign. 2nd place is a tie between some idiot tossing around a piece of wood that’s lit on fire and people throwing tear gas back at the cops and then continuing the riot, rather than dispersing (because that would obviously be the dumb thing to do?). Of course their is the tossing of glass at cops, by ey, WHO CARES?! I wanted to drink my beer in the street! That’s what’s important in life, and that’s worth protesting, right?!
WHAT WERE YOU THINKING???
Yelling “fuck the police”, really? Are you a 12-year-old who is suddenly filled with anti-authoritative angst after having just watched Office Space for the first time??
I love partying just like everyone else here…and we all “party hard” sometimes, but never should it endanger others or harm property of others. To see our freedom of assembly and expression tainted and wasted on such an idiotic “cause” is pathetic, immature, and embarassing. What a shame.
Sorry all you crazy “brahs” just thought partying in the street was that important; is it still that important to you? Unfortunately the tossing of glass bottles and full beer cans into crowds of innocent students and stealing stop signs are just a few of the most irresponsible and ignorantly violent/selfish acts seen on all of those videos…
Props to the HPD and other local forces, you didn’t overreact, especially considering the endless warnings you gave (loudspeaker an hour prior to evac, text message, warning before tear gassing, etc). Students here may not have done the actual bottle throwing or vandalism, but they sat around and watched and silently encouraged those who did, as well as encouraged the crowd that was intimidating the police, even after endless warrants calling for students to disperse.
A few comments back someone, as many of you are doing, blamed a non-student population for what happened. But in the same paragraph said that their friend had 15 people staying “at her place” for Springfest. And that is supposed to be an argument that this is NOT the fault of JMU students? Just friends of JMU students who were staying for the weekend in the apartments of JMU students? Thats the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. RMH was very close to capacity. The idea that students had no responsibility is completely immature and ridiculous. Each decision you make results in consequences, both good and bad. None of the thousands of people at this party had to be there. They also could have left any time. No one was keeping them there. Deal with your decisions for once. I’m ashamed of every single one of you who didn’t leave when things got out of hand. It is completely reasonable for the police to do whatever they have to do when thousands of people are grounding the same area - check your lease - i’m sure you were well over capacity. Without the police taking control, how many people do you think would have died that night? Anyone who threw glass bottles at the police officers are lucky the cops didn’t use real bullets. Grow up and take responsibility for yourself. You all looked like idiots. You all looked like Iranians protesting their election - but at least you had a good reason, right? You’re all a disgrace to the school, and for what? So you can “party”? This sense of entitlement, that you deserve to party however you want and whenever you want with as many people as you want is immature and egotistical at best. You are not entitled to anything. Get over yourselves and have some accountability.
Where did this idea that police should have been there from the beginning come from?? The police who were on duty were most likely doing thier job, and that job covers the entire city of Harrisonburg. If you JMU children wanted a police presence, you should have paid for it. Now, it’s going to be the taxpaying citizens of this city who have to pay for your misbehavior.
JMU children are such hypocrites. You prance around this city acting superior to the local population, and then cry foul when we hold you accountable for your misconduct. Lets be clear about this. No JMU student owns the property this gathering was on. Property management warned students ahead of time about what would happen if things got out of hand. Students chose to ignore those warnings. Students displayed a complete disregard toward to the community and suffered for it. You have no one to blame but yourselves
@ Cathy–Very well said.
I really cannot take the excuse that the majority of the 8000 were out of town, uninvited people.
If you put it on Facebook, it was an OPEN INVITATION for anyone who had access!!! So, yes, it was your fault all those people showed up.
JMU students are responsible for everything that happened that night…you were the hosts of this event. You did not have control of it. It got out of hand and the police were needed.
STOP BLAMING EVERYONE ELSE!!!
As someone who was not at the Block Party I can’t say I fully understand what caused the insanity that insued. I feel that maybe if there were more on-campus traditions that allowed for some controlled crazy-ness these things wouldn’t happen. We have had plenty of events like this promoted on Facebook in the past and none of them had ended like this, at least during my 4 years here. The library rave at the end of last semester is a perfect example of this. What has always given me great pride in my school is our ability to have a great time and do so with some responsibility and respect. It worries me that the future parties may just continue to escalate. After reading some of these comments I would hope that the police would do their jobs to disperse the crowd, but they also should have been giving out the citations they did in the fall. I have always known the rules, don’t step on the sidewalk or street and respect the police or pay the consequences.
I also greatly worry about the value of my degree. This event has tarnished our reputation and yes we do have one! We may not be one of the biggest schools on the radar, but Dr. is trying to change that, and this riot definitely has set us back. I really hope the the students that will continue on here in the future will take on the responsibility of controlling the situations and their peers better and look down on this type of behavior. I would hope students would not cheer on the the idiots making fools of themselves and making the situation worse. Hopefully this is an eye opener to the entire JMU community to rethink how to best have our traditions played out.
@ JMUsenior
I admire your attempt at damage control but it isn’t really necessary. No one goes to JMU for scholastic excellence. I know you studied really hard for your 1250 SAT but honestly, your demographic of high school seniors applying to the top 20 party schools will not be phased by your frequent rioting.
@chill
Go back to the library.
People are missing the point that HPD did close to NOTHING before they tear gassed the crowd. I didn’t see a single foot patrol officer maintaining order. It went from zero police presence to showing up with shields and body armor. And most of the vandalism and damage was done after the tear gas was dispensed. I don’t appreciate riot squad towering over me while I’m relaxing having a beer. I don’t mind people getting the usual drunk in public and underage charges, but more people were injured and hurt by the tear gas and related police intrusion, than there were before they arrived. They created the riot out of a large gathering, and try to claim it was a riot before the tear gas. Hmm? And Dr. Rose’s response is just another politician trying to save face at all costs, all JMU students should realize that by now.
My favorite part was when the crowd started chanting USA USA USA USA
Love it!
I almost fell for the whole “JMU we’re all about a balance of academics and fun” at choices. I was worried JMU was too much of a party school ,now I know. Choices on the 9th ( the day right before “the riot”) was fun. Harrisonburg is picturesque and college town freely.
However I will not be attending for 2014. This event just settled it for me.
I almost fell for the whole “JMU we’re all about a balance of academics and fun” at choices. I was worried JMU was too much of a party school ,now I know. Choices on the 9th ( the day right before “the riot”) was fun. Harrisonburg is picturesque and college town freely.
However I will not be attending for 2014. This event just settled it for me.
I agree with Anderson. James Madison University isn’t some 5-star semi-ivy league school known around the country. Get over your little “our reputation is so tarnished” platform. Nobody wants to hear you whine. To accuse JMU students who attended the block party of being immature is stupid, most of us just wanted to enjoy a cold beer, a nice buzz and some beautiful babes.
Let’s keep in mind:
8,000 +/- people were expected to be at the block party.
A message told JMU students to leave.
1000 +/- rioters stayed in Forrest Hills and lit dumpsters on fire and continued to throw bottles at police.
Anything here?
For all of the high school seniors like “2014 Student”- Congratulations. You just decided to miss out on the best college experience of your life. If you’re honestly that naive to think this sort of thing happens all the time, then maybe you’re a bit too dumb to be here in the first place.
I wasn’t at Springfest. Thousands of drunk college students in dangerously close quarters just isn’t my thing. But I love a good time and I know how to do it responsibly, as do most of our students.
JMU is just all around a great school. Our business school and other major programs are nationally ranked and graduates go on to do really big things. The reason why? They didn’t spend their entire college career stuck in some classroom or library learning from a book.
Experiencing life is the key to any sort of valuable education. All experiences. Yes, this was a bad one. No, it’s not going to ruin your degree or your reputation.
Any prospective student or future employer too ignorant to realize that clearly hasn’t received a proper education.
HELL YES TO THE PREVIOUS COMMENT!!!!! I am also a sophomore and for “2014 student” I’m so glad you won’t be a JMU student. If you think you’re going to go to any college and not see or be involved in drinking escapades, you are not mature enough to attend a university. If you recall, a few months ago, there were riots and escapades to this extent at University of Maryland after the Duke game. They got crap for it, just like we are, but does it discredit their national ranking? No. People got excited and got out of hand. Just like this. People went out and had fun, just got out of hand, which is going to happen with thousands of drunk people. And clearly, you based your perception on the front page picture of The Breeze. If you read the various articles, you would find out that more than half of the people in attendance weren’t JMU students. Let’s just say that having a “party school” reputation, JMU students know how to party and keep it in control. Maybe you should also realize that many students are selling t shirts to benefit the town for repairs, we have also created many groups entitled “Dukes helping Harrisonburg.” People may have messed up, however, we are all doing things to fix this, which is what it should all be about. People make mistakes. It takes character to realize this and fix it in a service opportunity way.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first example of JMU students getting out of hand. Wasn’t it just several months ago that JMU was singled out for having a terrible reputation toward visiting football teams and their fans? Wasn’t there a “riot” just 10 years ago?
I guess that the geezers are going to have to come back there and add a class to the curriculum entitled:
Grownup101–How to learn stuff, party hard, and enjoy college (without ruining it for EVERYONE)
I realize JMU is a good school and most students aren’t crazy, but if a business owner hears about this in florida, or any other state, that is the only time he will ever hear about JMU. Its not like they are on TV for football/basketball or publish research to make people forget about it. Unfortunately, anyone who sees this outside of the state will think of JMU negatively for a long time. Think about it if you saw this happen at UC Santa Barbara on CNN…..Sure it would look like a fun school but you wouldn’t jump at the chance to hire a graduate..
No, this wasn’t the first time, but is JMU the only school who has a bad reputation for trying to help their team out? No. Definitely not. 10 years ago there was a riot. 10 years ago, I was 10 years old. People forget until something else comes up. Yeah, its unfortunate that some people ruin it for others, but that is how some people learn, by doing. That is how it is always going to be. And “blahhh,” employers are not going to care about this. If you were arrested or charged with something dealing with it, then yeah, they won’t hire you. But they realize that thousands of people were not in attendance and aren’t going to penalize them for others’ mistake. We have many great schools in this university and let’s face it, worse things have happened elsewhere and employers don’t care if you weren’t involved. End of story.
I would like to offer my comments in three areas: the performance of the JMU administration, the performance of the police, and the behavior of the students:
1. Poor leadership by the JMU administration was a major contributor to the civil disturbance. I have spoken to my son, to a neice and nephew who attend JMU, and to a neighbor’s daughter who teaches at JMU. Here is my assessment:
JMU LEADERSHIP: It is utterly clear to me that JMU leadership did not set standards in terms of hours the activities would take place, acceptable behavior for students, or clear statements of sanctions students could expect for violating JMU’s policy on underage drinking. Worst of all (and this is plainly evident in the 2 hours of video I have reviewed), the administration showed absolutely no adult/faculty/leadership PRESENCE at any of the events to PREVENT them from getting out of hand. There is an old saying in leadership, “You get what you tolerate.” JMU leadership was TOTALLY absent at their institution’s hour of crisits, which indicated to the students that the administration would would tolerate any behavior. For this lack of leadership, the University should replace Dr. Rose and the entire top tier of leaders of his administration. They utterly failed in their basic responsibility to set standards and enforce them.
2. POLICE RESPONSE: Discussions with Springfest attendees, and close review of the civil disturbance video reveals the police showed enormous restraint through the entire situation. Despite repeated provocations by students as near as 10 or 15 feet away, the police held their positions and did not single-out or punish individual students. Their discipline was remarkable. In the same situation, being pelted by rocks, given the finger, and showered with beer bottles, who reading this blog could show such restraint?
3. BEHAVIOR OF STUDENTS: The behavior of the students was, simply, criminal. I told my son that if he gets a speeding ticket in H’burg, or bounces a check, or even gets caught drinking under the age of 21, I’ll support him and get him out of trouble. But he, and all my kids know, that if he should ever be jailed for picking up a rock or bottle to throw at a police officer, and I get a call to bail him out, my response will be, “Keep him.”
- There are several excellent photographs and videos of students (and I believe some H’burg townies–especially in the Liberty gas station video) throwing bottles at police officers. This is a felony, and I hope the good judges of Harrisonburg (with whom I have experience) put these young men in prison for several years. There are lines students can cross (giving a cop the finger, chanting F the police) and lines they CANNOT cross (throwing an object that could blind an officer of the law.) For the latter, the answer is: prison on the first offense.
- Perhaps the most damning aspect of this incident, (and all the YouTube videos documenting it) , is how empty and vapid it makes JMU students look. One gets an impression of an Administration which is out of touch and on vacation while the campus burns, an utterly inert Student Government Association completely out of touch with the average student, the total absence of leadership of a student body president, and these moronic, Idiocracy-esque students who shout non-sequiturs like “USA, USA!” to commemorate their ability to…burn trash in dumpsters!
The students, whose voices are heard when they film the insurrection, seem to lack any moral framework to assess the event. Instead of saying, audibly, “Hey man we can get rowdy but it is WRONG to throw a bottle at a cop,” they mouth pre-pubescent chants such as “this is RIDICKILUS” or “this is RITARDED.” It is truly as if they have been robbed of the universal human experience of developing a reliable rubric for determining right from wrong. As men, they are empty; as people of substance and judgment, they are nothing. They have done grievous damage to the reputation of James Madison University. They will soon learn that men like my son (who left Springfest around 2pm, when the sluggish massive-drunkenness bored him and he went home) will run circles around them in real adult life, where things like judgment and moral frameworks matter.
CONCLUSION: Replace the JMU President and top-tier of his administration, now. Support the police for their measured, disciplined response. Jail students who committed felonies, and educate all future JMU students to learn how to determine right from wrong.