Editorial : UAlbany administrators, local media unfairly target all students after St Patrick’s Day

While Syracuse University students spent last week on Spring Break, students at the State University of New York at Albany weathered a media storm and administrative and police crackdown after riots on their St. Patrick’s Day ‘Kegs and Eggs’ celebration turned into destructive, drunken mayhem.

The drunken rioting resulted in Albany police arresting 40 UAlbany students after videos surfaced on YouTube of the hoards, which caused more than $6,000 worth of damage to nearby cars by smashing windows. Rioters also cost the city $12,000 in damage to public property.

The senseless, arrogant behavior of these college students represents a disgusting display of the common disregard college students often have for the cities in which they live. But the enormous changes the UAlbany administration made — such as canceling the school’s spring celebration, called ‘Fountain Day,’ and moving Spring Break up a month — unfairly affect thousands of responsible students.

The city and university showed the rioters no mercy — and rightly so. Many of the students face multiple felony charges, and the school committed to suspending any student arrested in connection with the riots, causing a number of students to drop out preemptively. The administration is still deciding whether to expel the rioters completely. The crackdown on all sides makes an example of these idiotic and immature students, who deserve to get sent back to their parents in shame. The rioters have no excuse for their violent, criminal behavior.

But for the more than 12,000 UAlbany students who played no role in the St. Patrick’s Day fiasco, canceling a time-honored tradition and spring celebration unfairly punishes an entire student body for the egregious behavior of a few dozen. Failure to speak with the Student Association or listen to the students’ opinions reveal the administration’s priority to appease the community, while disregarding the input of its own students.

Likewise, the local media coverage has all but demonized the UAlbany student body and has far from addressed the students’ concerns, frustration and opinions about the riots and the administrative changes. As a student media organization, we know all too well the constant strain among city, administration and off-campus students that typifies most university neighborhoods. The views of these three groups are rarely in line, but they deserve equal attention. To disregard the students’ opinion as secondary shows them an irresponsible disrespect equal to that of those reckless students and reinforces their understanding that students are outside of the community and its social norms.