The Badger Herald

OPINION & EDITORIAL

Zoot Suit Riot

Looking for a print version?
Simply choose ‘Print’ on your computer and a printer-friendly document will be generated.

Also by Badger Herald Editorial Board:

A security fee-for-all (December 11, 2007)
Farewell, Chancellor (December 10, 2007)
$$FC (December 6, 2007)
In a bind (December 5, 2007)
Entitlement Town (December 4, 2007)

by Badger Herald Editorial Board

Tuesday, November 2, 2004

For the third year in a row, Madison’s famed State Street Halloween celebration took an ugly turn and ended with riots and pepper spray.

The party started getting out of control when a group of approximately 5,000 costumed partiers began pushing, yelling and dancing on State Street at 1:30 a.m. Sunday. A number of fights broke out, and police-mounted horses were hit with objects and beaten. Partiers then threw costumes into a pile and started a small bonfire. Some members of the crowd began jumping over the flames and passing objects, including a tire and a garbage can. Police intervened and used pepper spray to control and disperse the group.

While city officials are calling the damages from this year’s Halloween “minimal” compared to what some businesses suffered last year, several stores suffered property damage — including cracked glass on the doors of the University Book Store and two shattered windows at the Digital Outpost.

But while these stores can easily replace broken glass, University of Wisconsin students have a much more difficult task ahead: trying to repair the bad rap this out-of-control weekend has delivered at their doorstep.

City officials and police are frustrated with failed efforts at controlling the Halloween melee and are tired of giving students warnings and a slap on the wrist where the celebration is concerned. City officials, police, UW administrators and student government representatives have exhausted all their options. They have formed planning commissions, held countless meetings and spent nearly a year working to make Halloween weekend safe and successful. Yet their efforts have proven futile.

With each year’s escalating violence and riotous behavior comes a greater expectation by many out-of-town visitors and some UW students that a riot will be a part of the celebration. Many of these students are, as Ald. Mike Verveer said, just “hell-bent on being in a riot.” Madison has a reputation when it comes to Halloween, and these students are determined to take part in it.

Left in the middle of this growing problem are those students and visitors who simply want to have a good time — sans a riot. These students are the only people left who can control the destiny of Halloween weekend. If students want police and city officials to maintain some semblance of order and protection during the weekend — which is, after all, in the best interest of every single resident in the city — then they need to make sure the weekend is just about having fun and staying safe. It is up to these students, who comprise the majority of the UW population, to control guests and make sure the end goal of the weekend isn’t to riot.

It is no longer okay for UW students to simply sit back and watch a small group of people destroy Madison’s property, reputation and celebration. As soon as planning commissions and ideas for next year get rolling, every UW student should, in some form or another, get involved. The future of Halloween as most UW students know it is at risk, and working together is the only way it can be saved.