A SPECIAL REPORT

STUDENT RIOTERS DEMAND THE 'RIGHT TO PARTY'

It's being called the "Right to Party" movement.

On several campuses in recent weeks, large groups of students have clashed
with police on a scale not seen since the Vietnam War protests of a
generation ago.

This time, the protests are over alcohol. The continuing toll of
alcohol-related deaths on campus is prompting colleges to crack down against
underage and irresponsible drinking -- and students are not taking it well.

They are fighting for the right to drink in familiar areas and during
traditionalparty weekends. They are demanding to be permitted to drink even
though most of them are not of legal age. They want to drink when they have
previously agreed that they will not drink, and they want to drink when the
clock says No.

* At Michigan State University, 2,000 students rioted after administrators
announced a ban on alcohol at a popular spot for tailgate parties during
football games.

* At the University of Connecticut, hundreds of students rioted when police
moved in to extinguish a bonfire that threatened to consume an apartment.
The conflict with police resumed the next night, when students set a car on
fire.

* At Washington State University, police used tear gas to restrain hundreds
ofstudents who were throwing beer cans and rocks at officers. The riot was
sparked by students who were frustrated by a policy banning alcohol at
fraternity social functions. At least 24 officers were injured in the
five-hour rampage, and three people were arrested.

* At Plymouth State College, more than 500 people, many of them students,
chanted, burned furniture, and threw rocks and beer bottles at police who
tried to stop an annual party called "Spring Fling." Seven people were
arrested.

* At the University of Tennessee at Martin, police had to use pepper spray
to disperse a crowd of 150 at an end-of-the-semester fraternity party that
had erupted in violence. One student was arrested.

* At Ohio University, students pelted officers with bottles, pieces of
asphalt, and coins for the second consecutive year on the day when an hour
of drinking time was lost because bar owners turned clocks ahead for
daylight time.

Some say the violence is just a bad case of spring fever: After a long year,
students are bound to go a little crazy. But students see something more
noble, and police see something more disconcerting.

"It's about basic freedom," says Joe Uscinski, a junior at Plymouth State.
"We want the town and college to allow us to have fun for one weekend a
year."

Robert Hudd, police chief at the University of Connecticut, says even
"veteran demonstrators" may agree with him that the violence is gratuitous
- -- especially when the "issue" is drinking, not peace or civil rights.
"There's nota cause, there's not a stand, there's not a message, there's not
a theme."

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Chronicle of Higher Education

Checked-by: "R. Lake"