Frohnmayer expects quiet night
By Felicity Ayles
Oregon Daily Emerald
University President Dave Frohn
mayer wants to make it clear that he
does not expect a repeat of last year's
riot this Halloween.
"I expect that people will regard this
as one more opportunity to exercise
personal responsibility in an adult and
appropriate way,” he said.
A year ago Saturday night, a Hal
loween night riot took a toll on campus
life and prompted the school's admin
istration and the City of Eugene to take
action in preparation for this year.
“That includes being in very close
contact with the Oregon Liquor Con
trol Commission and its enforcement
officials, with local police, with our
campus public safety people and the
Office of Student Life,” Frohnmayer
said.
"We have been planning quite liter
ally since the events of last fall to do
everything we can to prevent it.”
University officials said if the Uni
versity or local authorities become in
volved, serious consequences will fol
low.
But Frohnmayer said the events last
fall were not caused exclusively by
University students.
“There were a significant number of
minors and others from surrounding
areas who became involved with some
of the most significant misbehavior,”
he said. “We’re dealing with a national
epidemic: that’s really tragic, but we’re
looking for an Oregon solution to it.”
Student group leaders and the Office
of Student Life are also working to pro
vide alternative activities for students.
"This is not something that you can
solve with directives from the admin
istration, but it is something you can
address by a collective sense of re
sponsibility and an active involvement
on a wide number of fronts," Frohn
mayer said.
ASUO President Geneva VVortman
said the problem with last year's riot
was not only alcohol but also that stu
dents had nothing else to do.
“I don’t believe that most of the peo
ple in the riot were students,” she said.
“You have overreacting police officers
and then you have riots.”
VVortman said the solution to these
problems is having more activities on
campus.
This year, the University is planning
events that will go later in the evening,
and the Office of Student Life is en
couraging late-night activities on cam
pus.
“The money we get for student
groups we will only give if the activity
goes past 11, and we give more to a
group the later the activity goes,” said
Laura Blake Jones, associate dean for
the Office of Student Life. Adding to
the alternative late-night activities this
year is the revamped EMU. The Buzz
coffee shop and the EMU Recreation
Center are open until 2 r.m. Thursday
through Sunday, which Frohnmayer
said he hopes will draw students to
campus and away from parties.
“That’s traditionally a place where
you expect there to be a center of stu
dent life and activity,” he said. “Now
it’s not only redone, it’s redone spec
tacularly and makes more space avail
able later in the evening for activities
that are not personally destructive but
in fact are socially reinforcing.”
The solution, Frohnmayer said, lies
with more enforcement and peer rein
forcement.
“The irony is that nothing inappro
priate had happened up until mid
night,” he said.
On Halloween night last year, there
was a set of student-sponsored events
at the EMU that students were at until
midnight, he said.
Jones admits University officials do
not have a solution and can’t prevent
students’ actions this weekend, but
she said the OLCC will out in force.
OLCC officers and police officers
will be visiting any residence where a
keg is registered early in the evening,
usually before the party has even start
ed.
In the aftermath of the riots, policies
have also changed in the residence
halls. Residents are no longer allowed
to possess empty alcohol containers in
their rooms, Jones said.
University officials look for solutions
By Felicity Ayles
Oregon Daily Emerald
Student leaders and administrators
want students to stay out of harm’s
way this weekend.
The University Office of Student
Life, in conjunction with the EMU and
University Housing, is planning a va
riety of activities aimed at keeping stu
dents busy and preventing a repeat of
last Halloween’s riot.
The focus of this year’s Halloween
weekend is more late-night activities,
said Laura Blake Jones, associate dean
for the Office of Student Life.
“1 think we have a more comprehen
sive array of activities this year," she
said.
The University received a $236,000
grant from the U.S. Department of Ed
ucation this year to fund a program ad
ministrators call a misperceptions
campaign, Jones said. It’s a national
campaign aimed at people trying to fit
in and find the norms in college life.
Through the program, officials are
trying to give accurate information
about alcohol use on campus, she said.
The Office of Student Life was able
to use a portion of the grant to fund
more late-night activities on campus.
The University has been allocated up
to $18,000 for evening activities in the
next year.
Administrators realized about three
years ago that there are few activities
open to students late at night that do
not include alcohol, Jones said.
For the past few years, the Universi
ty has had about $6,000 to plan
evening activities, and the Office of
Student Life has only been able to
fund a few small activities, she said.
This year, there has been a larger
planning effort with people on cam
pus. The planning groups included
representatives from the ASUO, the
residence halls, the greek system and
the Alcohol Coalition Task Force,
Jones said.
The main activity in the residence
halls is a Halloween dance in the Car
son Dining Center on Saturday night,
Housing program director Katie Bryant
said.
“More than anything, we recognize
the need for fun things to do that
night,” Bryant said.
The dance will feature a costume
contest, a disc jockey, prizes and a
swing dance contest, she said.
In addition to those events, Housing
officials are trying to improve on their
usual activities. The EMU will feature
the usual Halloween activities, as well
as some new ones throughout the
weekend, according to Susan Racette,
EMU associate director and business
manager.
The “Rocky Horror Picture Show”
will be performed in the EMU Ball
room and will feature a live cast and
the traditional throwing of rice and
toast, Racette said.
“The EMU always does ‘Rocky Hor
ror Picture Show,’ but we haven’t pro
moted it as much in the past,” Racette
said.
The EMU is planning and promot
ing more activities because University
officials want students to know there
are more late-night programs on cam
pus, she said.
Rachel Hayne/( Washington State) Daily Hi vrgreen
Riot police line up near the Washington State bookstore in Pullman as students continued to riot tor five hours on May 3,1998, despite the tear gas and mace.
Student riots across the United States
The University of Oregon's Halloween riot was at the front end of a national student trend in rioting. The riots, which were spread around the
country, were typically classified by violent clashes with police in the streets.
U. of Oregon
Eugene
Oct. 31, 1997
—*-r
Michigan State
_ East Lansing, Mich.
May 1,1998
Miami U. of Ohio
Oxford, Ohio f"
May 9-10,1998 j
/
Penn. State
State College, Pa.
I July 12,1998
'» 1 'V
Ohio U.
Athens, Ohio
April 5,1998
'T—
Plymouth State College
Plymouth, N.H.
May 2,1998
U. of Connecticut
Storrs, Conn.
April 25,1998
■Ohio U.: Approximately 2,000 people left the bars
early due to daylight savings. After congregating,
the group threw bottles and pieces of asphalt at
police aligned in riot formation. Police arrested
27 people, and several students were injured.
■Washington State: An off-campus party turned 1
into a violent clash with police. Two students and
23 police officers were injured. The university put \
photographs of the incident on the Web for people to V
confidentially identify the guilty parties. A
■U. of Oregon: Approximately 700 students were tear gassed by police
after rioting that included pulling down street signs and lamps,
throwing bottles and attacking cars. There were a tew injuries reported.
Most of the blame fell on the tenants of a nearby house who threw
a party that night.
■ Penn State: About 1,500 people set bonfires, pulled down
33 lamp posts and broke storefront windows in a clash that
injured 14 cops. The bill for the incident came to $100,000.
I Michigan Stale: A peaceful gathering
of ti .
J
in protest of the prohibition of alcohol from
a field traditionally reserved for tailgate parties
got ugly. Police arrested 27 students as about 3,000
people started bonfires and fought with the cops
Sv
■ Miami U. ef Ohio: A weekend long disturbance ended
in 39 arrests.
■ Plymouth State College: A group of 500 to 1.000 people
rioted at the tiny New England school. Police arrested 56
, people.
I ■ U. of Connecticut: About 2,000 people gathered for a
"Spring Weekend" party that turned into a fight with
police. Rioters turned over six cars and vandalized 27
police cars. Police arrested 40 students.
SOURCE: ODE, LINK Magazine
Continued from Page 1A
responsibility to answer calls
from noise-disturbed neighbors,
enforce underage drinking laws
and maintain control of streets.
“Where the parties run into
trouble is when they get loud
and boisterous and neighbors
complain," Torrey said. “Don’t
force the police to use suppres
sion tactics. We have a responsi
bility to enforce the law.”
Torrey said the city would
submit an article to the Oregon
Daily Emerald and The Regis
ter-Guard informing students
how to host a responsible party.
The Oregon Daily Emerald nev
er received the letter. Torrey
said the city would also contact
fraternities and sororities to ad
vise them about hosting respon
sible parties.
“Say what you are doing with
the kegs and then do what you
said you would do with the
kegs,” he said.
By late Thursday, the city had
not yet contacted the Office of
Greek Life, which coordinates
all major events for fraternities
and sororities, to advise them
about holding responsible func
tions, said Shelley Sutherland,
greek advisor.
However, Sutherland said a
representative from the Office of
Greek Life attended a meeting
among campus, city and police
officials where they talked
about riot issues.
Beyond the mayor’s plan of
using more police to control stu
dent activities Halloween night,
Torrev mentioned a way stu
dents could avoid a police con
frontation.
“My suggestion is that the
students solve things them
selves,” Torrey said. “If some
one gets out of control, have an
other student bring that person
back in line.”
Torrey said relations between
the city and University admin
istration are in good shape be
cause they have similar goals.
“We are mutually concerned
about the impact of underage
drinking and out-of-control par
ties,” he said.
A campus community solution
Instead of a police presence to
prevent student rioting. West
University City Councilman
Bobby Lee said he feels on-cam
pus activities will do the same
thing Saturday.
“The best thing we can do is
line-up as many fun events for
students on campus as possi
ble,” he said.
But Lee said riots will not oc
cur this Halloween because the
mood in the West University
Neighborhood is different from
last year.
“Last year we were in a differ
ent place," Lee said. “The EMU
was shut down, the greek sys
tem didn’t have a lot of [drink
ing] controls. When you don’t
have events on campus, people
have more parties in their pri
vate homes.”
According to Lee, student-po
lice relations are healthy this
year.
“The police tell me students
are more cordial,” he said. “Peo
ple’s attitudes are much differ
ent this year.”
But Lee is worried about the
type of attitude expressed in
Emerald columnist Vince
Medeiros’ Oct. 2 column, which
called on police to leave student
parties alone.
“I don’t think police officers
became police officers saying,
‘Gee, I want to break up a par
ty,’” he said.
Besides some student atti
tudes and campus activities,
Lee said police-student rela
tions in the West University
area lack the quality that other
neighborhoods have because of
the proportion of renters to
homeowners.
"Basically, in the West Uni
versity Neighborhood, 97 per
cent of people are renters,” Lee
said.
Lee said without a substantial
percentage of homeowners in
the West University area, it is
difficult to maintain a function
ing neighborhood association to
deal with problems like police
relations.
"It’s hard to start talking
about community policing
when we have that kind of a de
mographic,” Lee said.
Further, Lee said, 30 percent
of the students are new each
year. Lee said because most stu
dents don't own the house or
Rachel Bayne/CWashington State) Daily Evergreen
Bottles, chairs, mattresses, a keg, a lawnmower and a Honey Bucket were thrown
on a bonfire during the May 3,1998, riot at Washington State.
apartment they live in, they
don’t care as much about it.
“Owners could complain and
take part in rebuilding the
neighborhood," he said. "If you
owned your fence, if you spent
$100,000 on your home, you
wouldn’t tear it down. West
University is our home and we
need to take care of it. ”
Lee also said the poor state of
alleys and buildings promotes
illegal activity.
“The physical environment is
often associated with the type of
activity that goes on there. Often
(a physically deteriorated
neighborhood] leads to an in
crease in crime and illegal be
haviors.”
An increase in illegal behav
iors might draw police, but Lee
also said police respond to an
abundance of noise calls. Lee
said it was partly because of a
lack of communication.
“A lot of students are trigger
happy," he said. “They call the
cops before they do anything.”
His advice to students host
ing parties is to communicate
with neighbors.
“Talk to your neighbors—in
vite them to your party," Lee
said.
Police out in force this year
By David Ryan
Oregon Daily Emerald
Eugene police Sgt. Rick Gilliam
says riot gear is misunderstood.
"Riot gear is basically a mis
nomer," he said. “It's basically de
signed to protect a police officer.”
Does Gilliam expect officers to
need their gas masks Saturday
night?
“We're not expecting (a riot],
but there will be students in cos
tumes out and they will be going
to parties," he said.
Last year’s riot had a number of
causes, Gilliam said.
“A large part had to do with the
amount of alcohol at the party,”
he said. "Plus, Halloween fell on
a drinking night. People also
don't like to have their parties in
terrupted by the police. 1 think
last year, the crowd was allowed
to grow too large."
The police say they are pre
pared to deal with a riot this year,
no matter what night it may fall
on. Many of the strategies Mayor
Jim Torrey said police will be us
ing on Halloween stem from a
Sept. 24 memorandum written by
Lt. Carolyn McDermed to Eugene
police Capt. Roy Brown.
"The number of alcohol-related
incidents on campus is always a
concern, and the best way to con
trol them is to take a proactive,
zero-tolerance approach,” Mc
Dermed wrote in the memoran
dum. “Patrol teams will be pro
vided with instruction from the
campus team on how to handle
incidents so there is consistency
in our response.”
The memorandum listed strate
gies to deal with the campus area
during the upcoming school year.
One strategy encouraged prop
erty owners to remove tenants
where police found illegal activi
ty on more than one occasion.
Mcdermed also wanted police to
inform the University administra
tion when students were involved
in illegal activities.
“We tried to start out with a real
proactive plan this year," Mc
Dermed said, “We're striving for
consistency so students know
what we're going to do when we
show up. We’re kind of taking a
pretty aggressive approach."
A third plan was to have a
Rapid Deployment Unit on week
ends that works with campus
units — especially when there
were Oregon football games.
"They're a special unit de
tached from our patrol division,”
Gilliam said. “During the week
thev might be doing drug and
prostitution enforcement. On Sat
urday nights they might be doing
alcohol enforcement. They are
used when we need more officers
to handle a situation.”
Despite the strategies described
in the memorandum and Torrey’s
plans, on Tuesday Gilliam said
the EPD campus patrol unit still
had not finalized its specific
policing strategies for this Satur
day.
Students
Continued from Page 1A
Understandably, the fall guys
weren’t happy about becoming No.
1 on the city’s hit list.
“It seemed like everybody was
really pointing the finger at us, and
none of us really wanted to go out
there and be like, ‘Hey, you know.
That’s me! That’s me!”' said Matt
Bergevin, now a 21-year-old Uni
versity senior. “I didn’t talk to any
reporters at the time. We wanted to
keep it on the down-low. They had
to blame somebody, so they just
tried to shift the blame on us. 1
thought it was a little ridiculous. It
seemed to go on for like two
weeks.”
Bergevin wasn’t the only one
who didn't like the exposure.
“We weren’t really enthusiastic
about going on Channel 8,” said
Bergevin's roommate, 22-year-old
Dustin Vifquain.
They were so unenthusiastic,
they said, that a few times they
sneaked out of the back of their
house to avoid reporters and cops
who seemed always to be looming
in front of the house.
“It was hard to go to class be
cause you didn’t want to talk to the
media or talk to the police. As soon
as you walked out of the house,
there was someone there to con
verge on you,” said Brian Bieler,
25. “We pretty much took a stance
that we weren’t going to talk to the
media until we were sure exactly
what the charges were going to be. ”
The charges were stiff, but only
forone person. One resident of
what the roommates now call “the
riot house” registered for all eight
of the party’s kegs. He initially re
ceived $63,000 in citations and
was facing as many as four years in
prison. Having started the year as a
part-time University student, he
dropped out and moved to Port
land soon after.
Months later, a judge ordered
him to pay $500 in fines and com
plete 100 hours of community ser
vice. So as it turned out, the reper
cussions weren’t as bad as they hac
feared. They weren’t even evicted.
Instead, the landlord let them out
of their lease at the end of fall term.
“Our landlord was initially up
set with the media attention,” Biel
er said. “He wasn’t mad so much a;
concerned about the fact that we
had thrown the party. We had
roommates who had some legal
fees and for legal reasons decided
to move out, so we were down to
four or five roommates. We stayed
through the end of the term and
paid off that.”
Do they have any regrets?
“There was quite a bit of fallout,
but at the same time it was a pretty
good party,"Bielersaid.
Bergevin was a little more philo
sophical.
“It was a good night,” he said. “I
wish it hadn't of turned out that
way. I think a lot of bad things
stemmed out of that night — a lot
of problems.
"In retrospect, it’s one of those
things that you just kind of do. It
was obviously a real big thing, and
sometimes in life the bad and the
good are both memorable. And that
was really a mixture of both. It was
real fun to have a nice kind of col
lege-type party fora bit, and then it
just turned into this huge, crazy
riot, which was something that we
didn’t expect or want. ”
The house party didn't start in
nocently, and it was never intend
ed to reach the massive propor
tions it did, the party hosts
contended. Most of the people who
showed up first were friends who
had been invited, but then word of
the eight kegs spread, and the
crowd started growing, Bergevin
recalled.
The kegs were set up in the base
ment, and people started showing
up at about 8 p.m. A couple hun
dred showed initially, and then the
party exploded.
By 10p.m.,the party wasout of
control. There were 400 to 500 par
ty goers—mostly University stu
dents — in the house and back
yard.
“I was worried about things get
ting really out of hand,” Bergevin
said. “People just kept coming in.
We couldn’t do anything with the
people. It was hard to move around
inside the house.”
By 10:45, the kegs were dry. Par
ty goers started to move to the front
of the house, where there were al
ready hordes of costumed, wan
dering students killing time.
“The street was filling up,”
Bergevin said. “I think we had run
out of beer at that point. People
started leaving, but there were all
these people already out on the
street. People started walking out
of the house and just hanging out
on the street. So about half the peo
ple left the house and were sitting
on the street. A bunch of us were
yelling at them, trying to get them
to leave. Nobody moved at all.
Everybody just sat in the street
looking at us."
Bergevin and Bieler were ner
vous and could see the riot coming.
But, as a costumed Bergevin
found out, not even Batman could
stop the riot, and he took off the
mask for the dirty work.
“It was a little silly. I was trying
to get people to take off in the street
and stuff, and it’s a little bit harder
to do if you’re in costume,” he said.
“It was hard. People just wouldn’t
listen. I don’t know... you try to be
nice about the whole thing—they
just sit there and feed you lines.”
Bergevin started getting frustrat
ed at the people in the street.
“It just seemed to happen so
fast," he said. “It just seemed like
all ofa sudden there were just all
these people there. At that point I
was just like, ‘It’s out of my hands. I
can’t do anything more.’”
He headed over to a friend’s
house.
“It was weird. Everybody was
just milling about in the street, I
think just kind of waiting to see
what happened,” Bergevin said.
“There was just so many people
there that I think nobody wanted to
leave.”
The riot was almost inevitable,
Bieler said. The police had arrived,
but they were waiting around the
corner. Many people didn’t even
know they were there.
“There were so many people
coming from other locations that
were just wandering the street,”
Bieler said. “You’ve got a bunch of
drunk kids together. Everything’s
out of control anyway. There's al
ways someone looking to start a
fight or something. ”
People were looking, and then
people acted. A few jumped on top
ofa van and started to rock it, riling
up the crowd. They weren’t going
to leave.
Bieler couldn’t believe what was
happening and wondered why the
police weren’t doing anything.
“I was thinking, ‘They’re going
to have a tough time breaking that
up,”’ he said. “I think there was
probably a sense that people were
out to really party that night. And
so once there was a group of people
doing it and there was no repercus
sions...
“It seemed like just about 10 or
15 individuals got this huge crowd
just to go nuts. They were just wait
ing for somebody to do something.
It went nuts after that. Everybody
was just doing whatever.”
Turn to STUDENTS, page 14A