STUDENTS AT MIAMI U. IN OHIO CLASH WITH POLICE AFTER BARS CLOSE

Alcohol-related violence by college students continued this weekend, as
police in Oxford, Ohio, made 39 arrests over two nights of mayhem by Miami
University students. Meanwhile, in Pullman, Wash., police opened a
World-Wide Web site to help identify Washington State University students
who had taken part in a riot on May 3.

Lieut. Daniel Umbstead, acting chief of the Oxford Police Department, said
that about 500 students had started damaging property and throwing beer cans
and bottles at police shortly after the bars in Oxford closed on Friday and
Saturday, at 2 a.m. The students were celebrating the end of final
examinations. About 20 police officers were able to disperse the crowds in
under an hour both nights, he said. One officer suffered minor injuries when
he was hit in the hand by a flying bottle.

After the town's bars close, students commonly congregate in the area where
the disturbances took place, Lieutenant Umbstead said. But an unusually
large number of students showed up on Friday. "It was wall-to-wall people,"
he said.

The lieutenant said that students had climbed onto a moving van parked
outside a bookstore and had begun jumping off the vehicle and into the
crowd. The students later tipped over the truck, which contained $8,000 in
computer equipment, and broke a window in a nearby house, Lieutenant
Umbstead said. The rioters also tore an awning off a storefront. Several
students were charged with misdemeanors, such as a failure to disperse and
disorderly conduct. Two were charged with vandalism, a felony, he said.

On Friday, the university sent letters to several seniors who had been
arrested, telling them that they would have to meet with university
officials about the charges against them before May 15. Miami held its
graduation ceremonies on Sunday, but might deny diplomas to those students,
or delay conferring them, said Holly Wissing, a university spokeswoman.

WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY

Police in Pullman, Wash., are using an Internet site to solicit tips on
which students to arrest for taking part in a riot on May 3 at fraternities
near the Washington State campus.

The site includes more than 40 photographs of students taken during the riot
by police officers, newspaper photographers, and bystanders. It is being
updated daily, police said.

In a message on the site, police ask anyone who recognizes the pictured
students to report their names. The police department is also offering
witnesses the opportunity to view videotape of the riot.

On Saturday, police reported that the site had received almost 12,000 hits
within two days of its posting. Washington State students and faculty
members, as well as local residents, had identified more than 100 rioters
from the Internet site's pictures or other evidence. Police have arrested
four students, in addition to three detained just after the riot, and have
charged them with felony riot and other crimes.

Police said they planned to forward the names of students identified on the
Web site to campus officials, who have said they will take administrative
action against the rioters. Police believe that about 200 students took part
in the riot, while about 600 other students and local residents witnessed
it. In the riot, 23 police officers and 18 students were injured seriously
enough to require visits to a local hospital.

Copyright © 1998 by The Chronicle of Higher Education

Checked-by: "R. Lake"