The Black Student Union threw a welcome back party last Saturday night that could be providing an extended hangover.
The event, which was attended by over 400 people, ended earlier than scheduled after off duty St. Joseph Police Officers, hired by the BSU for security purposes, used pepper spray to control a crowd that they felt was getting too rowdy.
While the BSU has not been punished specifically for the altercation, administration has suspended all organized events that begin after 9:30 p.m. for an indefinite amount of time.
Cindy Heider, interim assistant provost and vice president of academic and student affairs, felt that suspending the events was the cautious approach.
Black Student Union fight
Pat McGuire
“We just want to make sure that events are safe and enjoyable for the students,” Heider said. “No one did anything wrong, we just need to make sure we do things a little better.”
The actual events that happened in the gymnasium of the Looney Complex that evening depend on whom you ask. President and founder of the Black Student Union, Moses D. Fields, Jr., found himself in the midst of the controversy and claimed that it was not a fight, there were no punches thrown.
“There was an altercation in the gym. it was a yelling match. It was not a fist fight,” said Fields. “Before anybody threw a punch the students broke it up. It was the first time in a long time that we have had a late night event that did not have a fist fight.”
According to the incident report filed by Cpl. Trevor Brown, the altercation included close to 50 people fighting, using hands and fists as weapons.
“We observed a large crowd, approximately 50 subjects, gathered at the west side (of the gym.) The large crowd contained several subjects fighting,” Brown said.
Fields’ point of view was that the majority of the students in the “fight” were actually keeping the few individuals from fighting.
“Four individuals out of 400 were a bad seed,” Fields said. “I feel like that’s a good number. Everything that we try to bestow, as well as the other minority organizations, is that we have to be accountable for ourselves, you have to account for each other and keep each other in line, and that’s exactly what the crowd did.”
Jon Kelley, Director of Public Safety, said that due to the darkness of the building he could not personally tell if there were punches thrown or not. He was present when the altercation was resolved.
“The St. Joseph Police Department officers were closest to the incident in the gymnasium and warned the large group to break up the fight and to disperse, more than once, or they would use pepper spray to disperse the crowd,” Kelley said. “The crowd failed to disperse and pepper spray was deployed by the SJPD officers, above the crowd, as a means of dispersing the crowd and minimizing the potential for further confrontation or injury.”
Filed under: Crime, News, Organizations |
September 20th, 2007 at 9:55 am
I believe Mr. Feilds paints an overall negative portrayal of the social life at western. Many organizations have had successful parties where security and St. Joseph PD have never had to deploy force to disseminate an altercation. At this point the Saint Joseph Police Department feels threatened and will no longer contract off duty officers for social events (parties) of any kind in the Saint Joseph Area.
As we all know, the excitement and unruliness of a few students can influence a larger crowd and hence turn a 5 student altercation into a 50 student incident. Rather or not a fight actually occurred in the gymnasium or not may or may not be verifiable, but it is common knowledge that fights did break out in the parking lot and Mr. Fields can not escape accountability for this issue. As an organization, the BSU must assume responsibility for ANY altercations on the premises or within the vicinity.
Although I believe the BSU should not suffer any repercussions for what seems to be an uncontrollable variable, as an umbrella organization for African American Organizations on the MWSU campus they should take a stance on the issue and propose a resolution for the progressing trends in student violence within the campus community.
Instead of racing to absolve himself and the Black Student Union of blame, Mr. Fields should take this opportunity to take an aggressive stance on student violence, and the culture that is becoming more and more eminent.
September 20th, 2007 at 2:17 pm
I believe that this incident is egregious and the BSU should be condemned for their lack of candor and or unwillingness to take responsibility for an altercation that has caused this institution bad press, and weakened the character that African American student organizations have worked hard to obtain over the last 16 years.
I agree with student84 in that leaders should rally together to make a statement about their zero tolerance to violence on or off the campus. Rather Mr. Fields would like to admit to it or not, this is an increasing trend amongst the social scene on Western’s campus and not just an isolated incident that got blown out of proportion.
As the BSU so adequately states on their Facebook page, some of their main objectives are to represent the Black Student population in political and community matters and to take active measures towards fostering and enriching the environment for students of African American decent at Western. It should be interesting to see if this is merely constitutional rhetoric or the forewarning for a call to action by the Union.
It is sad to see that the institution feels that the safest measure is to momentarily not allow for social events on the campus to take place during the evening hours anymore. This speaks to the climate of a college campus when its administration feels as if it must treat its student body like children. Hopefully something is done on the student side that gives the administration the impression that students do posses a sense of right and wrong.
September 20th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
student84/allum04
You both should come to a meeting where we can discuss these matters.
September 20th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
can’t-please-everybody, this open forum is just fine to discuss the matters at hand. Hopefully your meeting times are reserved for productive action and planning rather than useless debate. Sponsor a town hall meeting or something where undivided attention can be brought to this event, don’t offer to appease us by saying you’ll devote the open discussion segment of your normal meetings. We are not unintelligent people with whom you can masque the real issues by encouraging us to become involved in an organization that does not serve its intended purpose.
This is the average display of an, “Ahh well” cop out on the end of student leadership who wish to evade responsibility. Your answer is the equivalent to the back pedaling of the Bush Administration after the conflict in Iraq yielded no proof of WMD’s. I guess Jay-Z and Nas were right, black republican’s do exist! I wish you guys would just take responsibility and become proactive instead of reactive.