Second wild UNH party causes authorities to demand action> Punishment sought for students who threw bottles at police

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DURHAM, N.H. — After a second off-campus party involving hundreds of University of New Hampshire students got out of hand, authorities said the behavior can’t be allowed to continue.

“I’m very disappointed and surprised that this happened again,” Chancellor William Farrell of the university system said. “This kind of conduct is intolerable.

“I’m pleased that students helped the police bring this to a peaceful resolution, but we can’t have people doing this, throwing rocks and bottles at the police, anybody.”

Farrell, a former president at Plymouth State College in the system, said he has dealt with student alcohol abuse for years, but the extremes now are troubling.

“We’ve had no tradition of this behavior at UNH or any of the other state colleges,” he said. “This is a very serious problem that has caught us all by surprise.”

UNH president Joan Leitzel also indicated the university was ready to punish students involved.

“Many of our students are disgusted with this behavior and I am quite dismayed,” Leitzel said. “We are beginning to learn who the troublemakers are, and they will be processed through the university’s judicial system.”

One person was arrested in the first disturbance two weeks ago, and seven students were arrested Friday night as police again were pelted with bottles and cans by students in the crowd of about 600.

Learning from the wild fracas two weeks ago, officers also videotaped the crowd and say more arrests could come if they can identify violators.

No one was hurt.

Durham police said the incident occurred at about 1 a.m. at the same off-campus apartment complex where the incident occurred two weekends ago. Police called for reinforcements from the state police and 15 other departments, cordoned off the area and waited out of range for things to calm down.

The standoff continued for about 90 minutes, and ended without further incident.

Town councilor Vi McNeill, after observing the latest incident Friday night, praised the way police handled the situation, and Leitzel for walking through the crowd and persuading some of the students to disperse. O’Neill also said something had to be done.

“This was nothing more than a drunken, unruly mob of college kids looking for a place to party,” O’Neill said in a statement. “These kids are breaking the law, costing thousands of dollars for police protection, and possibly endangering lives. No emergency vehicle could have gone through that intersection, even if lives depended on it. This cannot be tolerated.”

Town Manager Larry Shaffer worried that other more-violent confrontations could take place.

“We are concerned about the future,” he said. “We are going to try and partner up with the university police.”

Shaffer said he will work to have more police foot patrols on campus to help prevent large crowds. He also said he will urge student leaders to speak against such behavior and be available to help defuse the situations.

“The town is disappointed in the behavior of the students,” Shaffer said. “We expect them to adhere to higher standards.”

Leitzel and police praised some students who helped to disperse the crowd, and students from three fraternities who also helped clean up. Those students also expressed surprise at the incidents.

“I’m dumbfounded … I don’t know what’s going on this year,” said senior Bill Reilly of Nashua, president of Sigma Alpha Epsilon.

Sophomore Ross Ackerman said it might be the freshman class.

“There’s just got to be a lot of wild freshmen,” he said.

But other students blamed police.

“It was fine until the cops got here,” sophomore Jess Cox of Concord said. “It seemed like the cops attracted people.”

Asked about police reports of students throwing bottles, Cox said she saw “one or two” bottles breaking, but “students weren’t really doing anything.”

As for students banging and rocking a pizza delivery truck trying to get through the intersection, Cox said, “They probably wanted pizza.”

But police saw it differently.

“Can you imagine some poor, innocent person on their way home from work?” asked Sgt. Rene Kelley. “Can you imagine how they must have felt?”