Colleges punish student
revelers
By Keith Thomas
Editor
in Chief
University officials are determined to hold students
accountable for student involvement in the destructive celebrations
on Sunday.
It appears now, as Purdue seeks justice by finding
the vandals involved with the disturbance, officials will use all resources
available to locate and punish the responsible parties.
The newest addition in the search for guilty parties
is a Web site maintained by the Purdue Police Department that consists
of about 100 photographs of suspects. But will this yield the desired
result?
A significant number of Penn State University students
would answer "yes."
Since 1998, there have been three disturbances
similar to that of Purdue's on or near Penn State's campus, including
a melee earlier this month that resulted in 15 student arrests.
In the first two disturbances, 38 Penn State students
were eventually arrested because of their involvement. Of the 38 student
arrests, 36 of them have subsequently been expelled, suspended or have
chosen to leave the university.
The reason for the swift and severe action in State
College, Penn., was the use of a Web site that was put in place three
years ago by the local authorities — a Web site similar to the
one launched by Purdue Police at approximately 1 p.m. on Thursday.
Penn State director of public information Bill
Mahon said using the video pictures on a Web site has provided university
officials with successful and tangible evidence of wrongdoing.
"It's been a very useful tool — making people
accountable for their actions in the riots," said Mahon. "It has led
to a number of identifications and arrests and disciplinary actions."
This is the sort of swift action Purdue officials
are now hoping for.
L. Tony Hawkins, Purdue's dean of students, will
be working closely with Purdue Police Chief Linda Stump in an effort
to determine levels of guilt and, later, what punishments will be rendered.
"Those who were actively involved in the vandalism
likely will be suspended or expelled," Hawkins said in a press statement.
"Examples of such actions might include starting fires, contributing
fuel to a fire, breaking windows, rocking cars or throwing objects."
In addition, Purdue is offering a reward up to
$5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of guilty
parties.
Mahon and Penn State officials, who have no reward
established as of yet, expect to see the same kind of justice following
the latest destruction at Penn State. He also expects it by the end
of the semester.
The Penn State melee caused approximately $8,000
in damages, and Mahon expects more expulsions and suspensions. The Purdue
fracas produced more than $60,000 in damages and has lead to the expulsion
of only one student. The "most wanted" Web site, however, has been up
for less than a day.
Officials at the University of Maryland are also
using police video posted on a Web site to identify revelers.
Cassandra Robinson, assistant director of university
communications, expects the fallout from their post-Final Four destructive
celebration to be quite significant considering the estimated damage
total is near a half million dollars.
In another March Madness melee near the campus
of the University of Arizona, students and Tucson, Ariz., residents
alike took to the streets, leaving in their wake a rubble and ashes.
Of the 17 arrests made in connection with the disturbance
thus far, only seven were Arizona students, but many more are expected,
according to Sharon Kha, associate vice president for university communications.
Though Arizona officials have no Web site with
incriminating photos to refer to, they are allowed to review the videotapes
taken by local authorities.
"The idea of breaking down individual photos and
putting them on the Web is not one that I've heard, but it sounds like
a good idea," said Kha.
Similar to Purdue, however, Arizona officials have
money on their side.
Arizona's university president contributed $1,000
of his own money for a reward fund in exchange for information leading
to arrests and convictions. In addition to the reward money, Kha said
the city of Tucson has a crimeline that offers $1,000 to anyone who
provides information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone
guilty of a serious crime.
At Arizona, it is unclear for now if the monetary
dividend will provide satisfactory justice.
Penn State will continue to use technology as a
tool with Web site identification because they have been provided with
satisfying results for two years.
At Purdue and Maryland, however, the effectiveness
of the Web site identification system has yet to be determined.
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