Photo by Shawn Torry
The Broncos ’ Voice
"pei^fettevdle- State ^{*Uven4^
March 20, 1997
Volume VI Issue 4
FSU STUDENTS ATTACKED BY POLICE AT THEIR CAMPUS DORMITORY
by Roger A. Harris
On the morning of
Thursday, February 21,
1997, between 1:00 and
5:00 a.m., what started
out as a spirited gather
ing of students celebrat
ing a basketball victory
suddenly and quickly
escalated into a confron
tation with Fayetteville
City Police that threat
ened their constitutional
right to assemble.
After the swirling
confusion, panicked
over-reaction, and brutal
excessive force had died
down, and amid the
foggy haze of pepper
spray and mace, the
amazed FSU student
residents of Bryant Hall
were left stunned, an
gered, and bewildered at
the chain of events that
had just transpired. At
stake are a chancellor’s
honor and credibility, a
police chief’s job, pos
sible lawsuits, and a university’s repu
tation.
Acting Vice-Chancellor for Business and Finance, Harry Ghee
discuss the attack on thier dorm.
“contemplates” the moment as students and chancelor McLeod
THE INCIDENT
At approximately 1:00 a.m., fol
lowing a victory by FSU’s men and
women basketball teams, sixty to one
hundred students gathered in Bryant
Hall’s parking lot to continue the cel
ebration. After trying unsuccessfully to
break up the gathering, Assistant Resi
dence Life Director R G. Ross called
the FSU campus police to report a dis
turbance and offering that illegal drug
may be in use.
When campus police arrived on the
scene, they asked the students to clear
the parking lot and move to a grassy
knoll. They obliged. The students were
then asked to disperse, a request to
which they took exception. Many felt
that since they lived there in the dor
mitory, that since there wasn’t a cam
pus curfew, and that since no one was
out of control, that there was no cause
for the request and that it amounted to
harassment. The students refused to
disperse.
The campus police then dispatched
the Fayetteville City Police to provide
back-up support. Approximately
twenty police cars, dog patrols, and a
fire engine were variously dispatched
to the scene. It was at this
point that residents from
within Bryant Hall and
adjacent dormitories
came outside to see what
all the commotion was
about.
Witnesses state that
the Fayetteville City Po
lice then took over the
scene, threatening to
mace the students if they
did not disperse. At this
point, a liquid was
poured from the third
floor balcony and landed
near the officers. The
officers gathered into a
j riot formation. Bryant
liall students began to
run into their dormitory
and were then chased by
the officers.
In the dormitory, stu
dents who were coming
out of their rooms were
told that if they did not
return to their rooms,
they would be maced and
arrested. At one point a
fire alarm was sounded,
and when the residents
tried to evacuate, they were forced
back into their rooms.
One student who refused an order
to open his door had mace sprayed
under the door and into his room.
Three students were arrested and
charged with failure to disperse. Dur
ing this arrest, one of those students
received a three to five-inch laceration
that stretched from his forehead to
under his right ear. A large portion of
Contiued on Pagell
"Etfios 97:
“I don’t know
the key to success,
but the key to fail
ure is trying to
please everybody.”
^^amid the foggy haze of pepper spray and
mace, the amazed FSU student residents
of Bryant Hall were left stunned, angered,
and bewildered at the chain of events that
had just transpired.”
Inside.
*9
EDITORIAL pg.2
FSU NEWS pg.3
OUR VOICES pg.4-
IT'S ALL GREEK TO ME pg.7
-Bill Coshy