It’s a sad statement that the University of Oregon received a mention on the national news for campus-area riots — which were about nothing.
CNN Headline News ran a segment Sunday afternoon featuring some of the University’s finest students tearing down street signs, pushing Dumpsters into a giant fire and in general, acting criminally irresponsible. In video obtained by the Emerald, the police appeared to act in an exemplary fashion. What we saw looked like a careful, responsible attempt to bring the crowds under control.
It’s not as if other, intelligent people haven’t found real issues to protest. Between 150,000 and 400,000 people marched in London on Saturday to express their opposition to war in Iraq. Thousands of protesters spent the weekend in Washington, D.C., demonstrating for global justice. Bicyclists in Portland and San Francisco brought car traffic to a near-standstill Friday while celebrating the 10th anniversary of the monthly Critical Mass protests.
We’re not saying we agree with those protesters. But at least they had reasons. Here in Eugene, the best students could do was destroy public property and physically attack police while chanting “U-S-A.” There’s the current state of youthful patriotism, proudly on display.
Many of the individuals involved were drunk at the time. We know alcohol is a dangerous drug, but this incident shows how dangerous it can be. And maybe the drunkenness, combined with newfound freedom, led the young adults to excess.
Maybe most of those involved were spoiled as youngsters and have never faced consequences for their actions. Maybe they don’t yet know what it is to be a responsible human being. Maybe their parents didn’t teach them.
Whatever the reason, they should know there are consequences. Police spent thousands of dollars on overtime and equipment costs. The city of Eugene spent thousands cleaning up the mess. Four hundred people lost phone service. Yes, rioters, adults do have to clean up the messes you make.
All of these costs are one of the reasons the Eugene Police Department instituted the Special Response Fee nearly two years ago. In a larger, more tangential sense, these costs to the community and to the state affect the ability of governments to provide services — including higher education. So when a tuition increase comes, know that rioters are one small part of the problem.
Given the effect on the community, the public relations disaster and the sheer indefensibility of the rioters’ actions, the University needs to take a stand. This same sort of event happened only four months ago. If the University does not provide strong consequences for students convicted of these crimes, then it is tacitly accepting the behavior as a natural part of college life.
The Student Conduct Code must be amended. Any student convicted of participation in the weekend’s riot should be thrown out of the University. We don’t want them here. They aren’t representative of this student body. We deserve national recognition for our accomplishments, not our wrongdoing.
Related Stories:
Partiers turn violent in West University neighborhood
Editorial: Throw rioters out with the burning trash
Riot Restitution
UO students named in weekend’s riots
Letters to the editor (10/02/02)
Offensive imagery, blurry photographs and a simple error
Eugene riots not so cool
Police are making Eugene a ‘military-city’
Police Arrest 35 in Riot Near UO
Eugene Police Beefing Up Patrols Near U of O
Crowd riots in Eugene
University, city fight over riot bill
Riot prompts UO to review off-campus conduct policy
Riot May Result In Code Of Conduct Changes At UO
Police Hope Their Video Tape Will Lead to More Arrests.
View photographs from the riot here.
