Community members, police officials, University administrators and students spent the later part of the week discussing ways to prevent future riots from happening as well as evaluating the tactics that were used to disperse crowds in the September rioting.
About 50 people met on campus Wednesday to take part in the Campus-Community Relations Task Force. No University, police or student action resulted from the two-hour discussion.
On Thursday, Eugene Police Department officials convened at City Hall to discuss their response to the riot. Officials said they were successful in dispersing the crowd without serious injury to officers or to rioters, and effectively detoured rioters from Sacred Heart Medical Center and the University campus.
EPD Special Operations Lt. Tom Turner said that compared with previous riots, the authorities faced many unexpected circumstances.
He said authorities received the worst pelting of rocks and bottles than at any other riot, adding that firefighters were also struck — unusual for campus rioting. Turner also said he was surprised the tear gas did not disperse the crowd, given that in the past, the method usually worked.
Turner said he believes the majority of people at the riot were
college students.
“This was the Tommy Hilfiger selection — it was bizarre,” he said. “These were well-dressed people with Nike shoes. This was not our typical anarchist groups — they looked like college students.”
Swenson said EPD is requesting that the University change its student conduct code to include off-campus activities.
At Wednesday’s meeting, many in attendance said they thought it was unfair to label the riot as
University-affiliated.
“A lot of students are being blamed for something they weren’t part of,” Panhellenic Council President Jackie Ray said.
The University also reviewed Wednesday the steps it has taken to ensure another riot does not occur. Administrators said they spoke with and sent letters to the involved students and their parents, and have worked with officers to help identify people videotaped during the riot.
The University has also advertised in the Emerald, providing students with tips about partying and listing potential consequences of unruly behavior.
The most dramatic moment Wednesday occurred when EPD Lt. Pete Kerns and Ilona Koleszar, a lawyer at ASUO Legal Services, clashed over property issues.
Kerns explained that students watching the riots from rooftops and porches were told to go inside because they were on public property. Koleszar disputed the officer’s claim, saying the property was private.
Associate Vice President for Institutional Affairs Jan Oliver skipped over the issue, saying if EPD believes the law to be so, then students should follow it.
Koleszar took issue with Oliver’s response to student rights and
responsibilities.
“The idea that the police say ‘so’ is ‘so’ doesn’t fly,” Koleszar said. “The idea of ‘let the court sort it out’ is at a loss to everybody.”
Kerns said EPD remains undecided about its preventative methods this Halloween; previous rioting occurred in 1996, 1997 and 1998. Kerns did say EPD will increase its patrols of the West University neighborhood. Meanwhile, members of the Oregon Liquor Control Commission will stop by houses that register kegs to advise partygoers of individual responsibilities, and EPD officers will keep tabs on those residences.