Administration pledges to punish students who incited night of mayhem

Administrators yesterday repeated vows to seek suspension or expulsion for students arrested for rioting, as university and county police departments launched investigations into Wednesday night's demonstration on Route 1.

Police officials from the university and Prince George's County said they have begun monitoring surveillance footage of Route 1 and the campus as they seek to identify instigators among the 1,500 students who swarmed downtown after the Terrapin men's basketball team's 79-72 victory over Duke.

Wednesday night, police arrested 28 people involved in the riots — 23 of them students — and in a press conference yesterday, Prince George's County Police Chief Roberto Hylton vowed that more arrests are forthcoming.

"Last night, we had a destructive mob that descended into the city of College Park," Hylton said. "We will continue to investigate this incident, and I expect that more arrests will follow."

According to the university's Student Conduct Code, even if arrested students are not convicted on criminal charges, they will still be automatically recommended for suspension or expulsion.

In the aftermath of the university's last riot in 2006, a majority of the seven students the university sought to punish were cleared of student conduct charges or had their penalties dramatically reduced.

But since 2006, the university has tightened its rioting policy, and University Police spokesman Paul Dillon said his department will actively seek out the students who fueled Wednesday night's mayhem. He said his department has already received several videos depicting the mob scene downtown and added that police will also investigate videos and pictures posted on social media websites like Facebook and Twitter.

Though the Student Conduct Code broadly defines rioting as misconduct that "results in harm to persons or property or otherwise poses a threat to the stability of the campus or campus community," Dillon said his department will not target students who merely attended the post-game revelry.

"When we're looking for people, we're looking for people actually doing stuff," Dillon said. "We're probably going to be concentrated on the people starting the fires and feeding the fires, rather than the people just standing around."

In all, students started three fires last night and stirred up a melee that sent at least five people to the hospital for cuts and bruises. One of them, a Prince George's County police officer, was allegedly assaulted by students. Another, a university student, was struck by horses police used to break up the crowd.

All five people have been released from the hospital, Prince George's County Police Capt. Misty Mints said.

The riot also caused damage to street signs and city property, which Vice President for Administration Affairs Ann Wylie said the university would pay for.

Wylie said any students arrested during the destruction will be sent to the University Student Judiciary and be recommended for suspension or expulsion.

From there, the students' cases will proceed like any other judiciary case and a panel of the students' peers will decide their fates.

"We handle all referrals in the exact same way," Wylie said. "The students involved in the riots will go through the judicial process like every other student."

Vice President of Student Affairs Linda Clement said the university will not seek consequences for students who police did not arrest and added that every case will be handled individually.

"People could jump to the conclusion that everybody arrested last night could end up with a suspension or an expulsion, and I just don't know what everyone was doing last night," Clement said.

She said she has not yet seen the charges brought against university students.

Mints said everyone arrested Wednesday night faced misdemeanor charges and was released from jail that night unless they had a prior criminal record or a warrant for their arrest.

She declined to provide a list of the charges, arguing releasing the names wouldn't serve the public interest.

Staff writer Lauren Redding contributed to this report. slivnick@umdbk.com