Current Release: April 28th, 2009 | Vol. XXX Iss. 10

Saturday night fight explodes in Village III

By Jaci Downey and Megan Zirkle

After the men’s soccer team won the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) on Sat., Nov. 5, students returned from tailgating to finish the celebration off in front of the south townhouses for the night.

What started out as a night of fun and socializing escalated into an evening of both verbal and physical altercations, with the Virginia Beach Police Department called to disperse the party.

Junior Lauren England and sophomore Rachel Ponder were the Resident Assistants (RA’s) on duty for the night. After seeing several students with open containers of alcohol, they asked them to pour out the beer or take it inside because it violated the state open container law that Virginia Wesleyan College follows.

“With so many people drunk in one small area,” said Ponder, “all having open containers, which is against school policy, we knew someone was going to get hurt and a fight would break out.”

Security was called to assist the RAs, and after receiving no cooperation from the crowd, Sgt. Paul Denver called Off. Jacob Kinchen for back-up as the crowd increased to an estimated 80 students.

“By the time I arrived, the students were in full swing, drinking and being all hyped up,” said Kinchen. “The RA’s were telling them to put their containers away, and they were getting harassed for it.”

The two security officers left after the crowd seemed to be breaking up, but students started to re-gather after they noticed security leaving. The officers were gone no more than a minute, a fight broke out between two female students.

“I saw the brawl start but there was just an extreme amount of people,” said junior Jessica Shepherd, who lives in the townhouses. “There was tons of punching – it was like a gang fight.”

The fight lasted no longer than five minutes, being broken up by male students at the party. Although there was a physical fight, the main problem of the night was students’ lack of respect for authority.

Expletive words were screamed at RAs and security officers, along with verbal threats. Objects were thrown.

“The worst thing I saw was a guy chuck a beer bottle at an RA’s head,” said Shepherd.

After the fight was broken up, students continued to party outside. Students living in Village III called Officer Dwayne Perry at the front gate to file complaints.

“I had three separate complaints about students not being able to sleep, and if nothing was done about it they would transfer or get their parents involved,” said Perry. “The reports were made about the noise and the smell of marijuana coming from the area.”

After complaints and the refusal of students to leave the area, security called the Virginia Beach Police Department. Unit 314 responded to the call and policed outside the townhouses with other security officers and RAs, hoping the students would leave because of police presence.

“I watched kids come out of the apartments and throw eggs at the police cars and police,” said Shepherd.

“It was ridiculous that we are college students but we can’t act like college students,” said senior Becky Sowell.

As students started to scatter around VIII, another fight broke out between two male students, in front of the police officer. Other students broke up the fight and went inside for the night.

“I think, overall, it’s such as shame that the guys’ soccer team won ODACs and a few people ruined a fun celebration and took it to a different level,” said England. “It was a sad situation.”

“The RA’s and security reacted in accordance with their duties, which is first and foremost to provide a safe environment for the students of this campus,” said Keith Moore, director of residence life. “Alcohol is a poor factor that extends beyond college, and I hope people make better decisions about behavior in the future.”

Village III Coordinator Liz Powell was present all night and denied comment upon request for an interview.

No charges were filed against any students. Residence Life is currently investigating the events of Saturday night.