Damage hurts Purdue, not just revelers

Wrongs have been done; people will be punished.

This past Sunday, Purdue students took to their campus to tear it down and run from police in some of the most vicious Purdue self-mutilation we've seen since, well, last year.

Why? Because our basketball team lost — but more so because people wanted to party.

The party, as they say, is now over.

Purdue University may have set a new record for speed of retribution, expelling one student already and setting hearings for eight more.

There are bound to be opponents to this disciplinary action by the University, and most of them will be students who were involved in the destruction. It could be worse; all students could be punished for the actions of a few.

But then, it is worse. The cost of repairs comes out of property taxes, and students pay these property taxes. With more than $60,000 in estimated damage to University property alone, Purdue and West Lafayette need to recoup their losses.

Students are going to be held responsible again. And a raise in property taxes means that future generations of Purdue students will be paying for our "revelry" even though they had no involvement whatsoever.

Students out in the mass shouldn't and can't be subjected to punishment. The only students that deserve expulsion are the ones actually responsible for the vandalism and the fires.

The revelry into the streets of more than 1,000 students stopped being a revelry the moment the first trash bin was set on fire.

This handful, egged on by the spirit of the moment, made revelers seem more like rioters.

Not prosecuting them severely and swiftly tells students who may have been bystanders this year that they can destroy without punishment in the future.

Not to mention the incoming freshmen who will by now know of our reputation for violence and expect it like an annual party.

Each year our "revelries" have grown more and more destructive and expensive. They should stop now. Now, when the damage is relatively minimal and no one is seriously injured or killed.

Otherwise, the damage will only get worse and the punishments more widespread.

n Editorial Board: Keith Thomas, Tom McHenry, Melissa Davis and Laura Pelner.

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