Jischke addresses concerns

By Dave Stephens
Assistant Campus Editor

Three days after the fires from Sunday night’s disturbance were put out, the heat could still be felt in comments from President Martin Jischke.

Jischke, speaking during his monthly radio show on WBAA’s "920 AM Magazine," said he was very upset by the actions of students who partook in the late night revelry that followed the women’s basketball team’s loss in the NCAA Championship game.

"I am very, very disappointed that the conduct of just a few of our students did not match the maturity our team showed," said Jischke.

Jischke said the students who were involved with Sunday night’s incident would be punished for their actions.

"We’re going to try to do everything we can to identify and hold accountable the individuals who were responsible for this action," said Jischke, "and there will be consequences for this kind of behavior."

Consequences Jischke mentioned were possible expulsion from the University as well as penalties from the court, both state and civil.

"There was more than a thousand students in and around this activity, and those students who were outside watching provide a kind of amenity and therefore protection to the students who participated," said Jischke. "They helped create the environment which makes this a difficult problem."

Jischke said the problems caused during the disturbance, and by similar disturbances in the last two years, is making Purdue look bad.

"Purdue is gaining a reputation all over the country and beyond for this kind of conduct. It’s frankly a reputation we don’t want, and we are angry and we deplore the fact that a small group of students is hosting this reputation on the University," said Jischke.

Jischke said he found it disturbing that many students acted out, not because they were upset about the basketball game, but because they wanted to cause damage.

"What really troubles me is there’s reason to believe this was rather planned," said Jischke. "The students who created the disturbance had planned to do this; it didn’t matter what the outcome of the game was."

During his show Jischke took calls from members of the community, many who felt that Purdue students needed to be better disciplined.

"It’s not any comfort to me, but the behavior we’re seeing is not peculiar to Purdue," said Jischke. "There is a sense among students that this idea of celebrating by creating a certain mayhem, by destroying things by creating fires, is happening not only in West Lafayette but at other places."

Dan Skinner, who hosted the show with Jischke, said the topic of students' Sunday night behavior was one in which many people were interested.

"It’s obviously in response to an immediate concern; it’s on people’s mind and it has affected the community," said Skinner.

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CAMPUS DESK PHONE:
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Campus editor: Laura Pelner

Assistant campus editors: Kurt Esposito, Dave Stephens

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