Underage Drinking, a Bates College Tradition

This is an excerpt from one of the articles in The Lewiston Sun Journal regarding the incident:

"Tuesday night they were celebrating "Throwback Night," an annual celebration in which seniors visit their first-year dorms one last time, usually providing beer to the freshmen living there."

Let's review: There was a large party in which SENIORS GAVE ALCOHOL TO FRESHMEN. Really Bates? Nowhere have I read that Bates administrators are commenting on the overtly clear underage drinking problem that was put out in the open. Apparently if its tradition, its okay?

I understand the need to get outside, but if 200+ young persons were not out DRINKING IN THE STREETS and being obnoxious, the police wouldn't have needed to intervene. Clearly campus security felt like it was a situation for FOUR police departments and some state police. This is not your average "break up the party" situation.

Bates students held a rally yesterday to protest the "brutality" of the LPD. As I understand from the article, it was led by a Freshman. He is quoted as saying:

""This attention is extremely welcome because it gives us an opportunity to right these wrongs," Collet said. "Bates College has never been about inaction. We've never been about sitting idly as injustices are done and we've never been about incivility. We intend to use discourse and the legal system to get the justice we so dearly deserve." YOU ARE A FRESHMAN, DUDE, HOW WOULD YOU KNOW WHAT BATES HAS "NEVER BEEN." In-justices? People were drinking in the streets, being belligerent and caused the injury of a POLICE OFFICER. Perhaps they ought to recognize the fact that they were being IN-CONSIDERATE.

Similarly, another student is quoted as saying: "More than 100 students attended the rally. The student said local police regularly overreact to Bates students, especially on campus.
"We think of the campus as our home, after all," she said. "We are just people, celebrating on our campus, so this feels like an invasion of our home."

Sure, college can be like a home, but if the police suspect something dangerous/illegal is going on in someone's home, THEY HAVE A DUTY to invade. And what's this about the LPD "regularly overreacting to Bates students" and "harassing" them? I really don't think that trying to break-up a 200+ person gathering of largely drunk students is overreacting. And where are these examples of harassment? I keep seeing things about how the police treat Bates students unfairly, but I have yet to read anything hard and fast that leads me to believe the police acted in the wrong.

My message to Bates students is this: Grow up and get over yourselves. Be accountable for YOUR actions in this; take responsibility for what you did. Furthermore, I think you owe the injured officer an apology- a public one. He was just trying to do his job. Take a step back and think about the consequences that your actions have. YOU were drinking the in the streets. YOU caused the police to come. They didn't show up "just because."

And to Bates administrators: The fact that we've heard NOTHING from you regarding this issue is truly astounding. Everyone knows that underage drinking occurs on college campuses, but now its been made loud, clear, and public that this is a problem at Bates. What are you going to do about it? Are you taking into consideration how this incident could be besmirching your reputation as a Maine Ivy? Are you going to stand by and watch your students IGNORE the fact that they contributed to the injuries of a PUBLIC OFFICIAL and each other? Its despicable.