Bitter cold temperatures and persistent snowfall welcomed students back to WVU’s campus for the 2019 spring semester. On Jan. 30, WVU announced classes would be cancelled due to the frigid weather; the cancelations ran from Jan. 30 to Feb. 1. Rather than staying in the warm indoors, roughly 900 students took to Spruce Street to celebrate the five day weekend.
The intoxicated sledding and skiing was halted due to the Morgantown Police, WVU PD, and Monongalia County Sheriff’s Department deeming the gathering a ‘riot’.
After warning the crowd to disperse, a fire was lit and beer bottles and rocks were thrown in response. Officers deployed smoke grenades and then pepper ball munitions towards a crowd.
On March 6, MPD served arrest warrants to 11 people that were identified and involved during the ‘riot’.
This is not an isolated incident for WVU. In 2016, Winter Storm Jonas caused the university to close. Students celebrated the cancelled classes by partying on Spruce Street.
While the gathering was popular, it was not considered a riot by police. Could the split reactions to the Spruce Street incidents be due to the student’s behavior or is the push for a culture shift at WVU attempting to crack down on any event that may cause negative press? WVU is already hindered with a party school reputation.
As Sadie Janes wrote this week on My Reputation, a culture change to dissolve the negative reputations has been present on WVU’s campus. There is a clear divide between the university administration, its supporters, and some students that are responding to those initiatives with a pushback.
In relation to Spruce Street parties, the disagreement between students and the university/police on whether the Spruce Street incident was a riot or merely a party, parallels the aforementioned divide.
The university may be in a position where they are responsible to respond/correct such behaviors. All of the press will directly reflect the WVU community and its reputation.
My Reputation 