Some students who vandalized campus during championship celebration expelled

[HooperScooper]

Some of the students arrested for vandalizing the UConn Storrs’ campus following the men’s basketball team being crowned the NCAA champions in April have been expelled, a university spokesperson said Thursday.

“The cases are in various stages,” said Stephanie Reitz, a spokesperson for UConn. “Although we can’t address individual students’ outcomes, we can say that some reviews have concluded with expulsions, while others remain either under investigation or are scheduled for hearings that have not yet occurred.”

Some UConn students who vandalized campus during NCAA men’s basketball championship celebration expelled

Some of the students arrested for vandalizing the UConn Storrs’ campus following the men’s basketball team being crowned the NCAA champions in April have been expelled, a university spokesperson sa…

www.courant.com

Alternate access:
Some UConn students who vandalized campus during NCAA men’s basketball championship celebration expelled

 

[Waquoit]

Good.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

I'm still stunned by the stupidity of people recording their actions for social media.

How can someone who is capable of being accepted by any college, not just one of the top public institutions in the country, not realize that vandalism is a crime.

Some of these geniuses recorded it so the whole world could know it was them.

 

[alexd]

It was all going to be okay cuz, you know... we won #5. LOL

 

[CL82]

I'm still stunned by the stupidity of people recording their actions for social media.

How can someone who is capable of being accepted by any college, not just one of the top public institutions in the country, not realize that vandalism is a crime.

Some of these geniuses recorded it so the whole world could know it was them.

Agreed. Set aside the fact that destroying public property is a senseless, selfish, and criminal move, what kind of idiot would be so dumb as to do it in front of 1000 people with cell phones pointed at him and recording him?

 

[AreBee1969]

Just unbelievable. Idiots.

My daughter was there and was absolutely terrified when she saw the first lamp post come down. She hightailed it to Towers and texted me "I'm safe." When I saw her text I had no context at the time and called her. She seemed more shaken by the mob mentality than the vandalism itself.

 

[tykurez]

I was at UConn for the ‘04 dual championships, will not speak of what kind of stuff happened then yeeeesh. At least we didn’t vandalize actual school property

 

[TheHorde]

The drunk naked dude running down the street that was hit by the car still has me dumbfounded.

 

[Chuck]

I don't want to be a hypocrite. I did dumb things at UConn (and before and after). I was one of the first to drop a couch on a bonfire after Tate's shot. Quite frankly, I don't know how people beat us to the punch because I remember being out there seconds after the ball hit the floor.

That being said, this current generation doesn't seem to understand controlled chaos. We burned stuff, but it was generally our own stuff and it was remarkably controlled in a quad. Of course, it was dumb, but it seems different now. Tearing down lamp posts that fall on fellow students, using that post as a battering ram to destroy school buildings, flipping cop cars? My kids in high school don't have parties to go to anymore because their class mates destroyed the house every time. When I was their age, the biggest football players would kick the crap out of someone trying to mess with the host house. Why? Because we wanted that person to host again (so we could do dumb things).

It's sad that kids will be expelled for celebrating. Hopefully, they learn from this and all the other students at UConn learn as well.

 

[alexd]

I don't want to be a hypocrite. I did dumb things at UConn (and before and after). I was one of the first to drop a couch on a bonfire after Tate's shot. Quite frankly, I don't know how people beat us to the punch because I remember being out there seconds after the ball hit the floor.

That being said, this current generation doesn't seem to understand controlled chaos. We burned stuff, but it was generally our own stuff and it was remarkably controlled in a quad. Of course, it was dumb, but it seems different now. Tearing down lamp posts that fall on fellow students, using that post as a battering ram to destroy school buildings, flipping cop cars? My kids in high school don't have parties to go to anymore because their class mates destroyed the house every time. When I was their age, the biggest football players would kick the crap out of someone trying to mess with the host house. Why? Because we wanted that person to host again (so we could do dumb things).

It's sad that kids will be expelled for celebrating. Hopefully, they learn from this and all the other students at UConn learn as well.

I agree with 90% of this..... but one thing. They're not being expelled for celebrating. They're being expelled for the damage they caused to university property.

 

[Chuck]

I agree with 90% of this..... but one thing. They're not being expelled for celebrating. They're being expelled for the damage they caused to university property.

Fully agree. I just meant that they (many) thought they were just celebrating. They were wrong, but probably thought it's just what you do. I'm sure some were just using it as an excuse to destroy stuff.

 

[Scott2Tate]

I will NEVER understand the thought process behind, "YESSS!! We just won our 5th! Let's go destroy our University to celebrate the win!!"

 

[WhereistheDove?]

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

 

[MTBingNinja]

Anyone have any research studies on the destructive mob mentality (i.e. burning down things, flipping cars, etc.) after a win? Lord knows it’s fueled by alcohol. When 5 of my friends get loaded, we’re not destroying things to celebrate. I can see how it just takes a few people to ignite a crowd.

 

[Scoe]

I will NEVER understand the thought process behind, "YESSS!! We just won our 5th! Let's go destroy our University to celebrate the win!!"

Right, what happened to just pouring beer on each other, maybe have a mosh pit. There’s about 1,000 stupid ideas to come up with that won’t get you expelled.

 

[Jaydumo20]

Did you see those dudes who smashed the Student Union window??? I mean, did you see those guys??
If you asked me, out of the entire 20k student population, which 2 guys will be expelled for being proudly filmed destroying school property, I would've picked those 2 guys - the day they stepped on campus for student orientation. I'd have said "those 2 guys are gonna be expelled for destroying school property on tiktok"

 

[gtcam]

When kids see on TV it appears to be ok for groups of people to destroy cities - they mimic and think its ok for them
Destroying other people's properties for is unacceptable at any age but once you are in college you should know better.
Alcohol will make some folks crazy.
Only can point the fingers at themselves.
What a waste.

 

[NEforceUConn]

They thought destroying public property was celebrating.
It was not.

 

[FfldCntyFan]

IIRC when this first broke there was a report about someone saying to a friend something along the lines of make sure you get this it will get (however many) millions of views.

 

[CL82]

When I was their age, the biggest football players would kick the crap out of someone trying to mess with the host house. Why? Because we wanted that person to host again (so we could do dumb things).

This. I hate to go all old guy shaking his fist at the moon, but back in the day... we did self regulate. When people got out of hand you'd tell them to chill. Same thing if someone picked on someone that lacked the ability to stand up for themselves. It typically wasn't much and didn't need to be dramatic, just a quiet "knock it off" or "let it go." Nowadays, it seems like the go to move is to record stuff, rather than stop people from being idiots.

/end old guy rant.

 

[CL82]

Anyone have any research studies on the destructive mob mentality (i.e. burning down things, flipping cars, etc.) after a win? Lord knows it’s fueled by alcohol. When 5 of my friends get loaded, we’re not destroying things to celebrate. I can see how it just takes a few people to ignite a crowd.

Yeah, all the way back when I was at UConn.
There's a couple of things happening. The crowd size gives a feeling of anonymity and lack of consequences. As any individual steps over normal societal bounds, the next individual feels empowered to take one more step over and so on. I believe the phenomena was called intensification and repercussion, but that's trying to remember back a few decades.

 

[Ha Who]

Look at the people who participated in January 6th. For example, the realtor from Texas who put it on social media. Whether they’re rioters or tourists, all these morons are symbolic of our society

 

[husky429]

How can someone who is capable of being accepted by any college, not just one of the top public institutions in the country, not realize that vandalism is a crime.

Knowing vandalism is a crime =/= thinking you won't get caught. Kids don't understand the implications of everything (everything) being recorded. Grabbing a phone to post on tiktok is like a reflex to them.

And I think you vastly overestimate the intelligence of your average 18-21-year-old, no matter what school they got into. Getting into Storrs doesn't mean you aren't an idiot--it means you have basic school skills. At the end of the day, that only gets you so far. I expect you'd see better decision-making from a community college.

My wife taught in Storrs for something like 6 or 7 years... this was her last semester as she got tenure-track elsewhere. The campus is filled with entitled kids whose mommy and daddy gave them everything and think they have oppression because of self-diagnosed anxiety. I'd venture to guess the first-gen college student paying their own way to campus was not tearing down lamp posts.

Ask me how many Storrs students failed their courses for using Chat GPT on finals (hint: the number is STAGGERING).

 

[Scoe]

I guess I’m just a boring guy when it comes to celebrating my way of celebrating is just sitting by a fire with a beer and a cigar. My idea of celebrating is to just sit back and chill.

 

[husky429]

Just unbelievable. Idiots.

My daughter was there and was absolutely terrified when she saw the first lamp post come down. She hightailed it to Towers and texted me "I'm safe." When I saw her text I had no context at the time and called her. She seemed more shaken by the mob mentality than the vandalism itself.

Sounds like you raised a pretty smart kid.