Mor May Press Charges
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
THET TS DAILY \Where You Read It First Wednesday, September IO, 1997 Volume XXXV, Number 5 I T more may press charges member, other students outraged after fight BY LINDA BENTLEY who responded to the scene, as student, apimdeliveryman, was Daily Editorial Board “rude,” Blenner said that he was drivingdownProfessorsRow and AmemberoftheDeltaTau Delta never asked by TUPD for his state- saw his friend with the students in (DTD) fraternity will soon decide ment regarding the incident. “He aconfrontation,”Keith continued. whether to press charges in the never asked me for a story or any- “He came to the aid of his friend, aftermath of a Saturday morning thing.” and in doing so he was hit on the fight that left him and another in- Keith, meanwhile, said that if head with a beer bottle that was dividual injured, and left many stu- Blenner chooses to press charges thrown fiomthedirectionofDTD.” dents outraged at the conduct of against his alleged assailant, TUPD At this point, Keith said, the the Tufts Police. officers would accompany the pimdelivery man-wounded by TheDTDmember,junior John DTD brotherto Somerville District the bottle- walked to the trunk of Blenner, suffered a wound on his Court. “He said that he will let us his car and produced a baseball Dady fde photo forehead after a 19-year-old know,” Keith said, speaking on bat, at which time officers arrived Fletcher Field, the former site of women’s rugby. Medford resident allegedly struck whether Blennerwillchooseto file on the scene and the altercation him with abroomstickhandle. The acomplaint. was ended. confrontation apparently devel- Atthis point, Keithsaid, TUPD Contradicting the TUPD suspended. oped when the Medford male, who is still trying to piece together the timeline of events, Blenner said was joined by a 19-year-old fe- events that led up to the 2:25 a.m. that he was struck with the broom- male, asked Tufts students who arrival of police on the scene. stick handle while trying to end 997 season were on the DTD porch for a ciga- “Brotherscamedown offthe porch the altercation - after the pizza rette. Words were exchanged be- and approached the students [af- deliverymanarrived.“When1 was ber Sean DiBartoIo, Professor By LAUREN HEIST tween the Medford resident and ter they asked for a cigarette],” watching the kid with the bat, I James Glaser, chair ofthe athletics Daily Editorial Board students, according to TUPD Lt. Keith said, “and words were ex- turned and the other kid struck me The men’srugbyteam has been committee, wrote that the decision Mark Keith, and the fight broke changed. One of the students at- on the head with a broomstick,” suspended for the 1997fall season to suspend these teams was based out, WithBleMersufferingthefirst tempted to step in to try to de- Blennersaid. following an evaluation intosafety information that four Division on blow. escalate the situation, and that’s Blenner held that the pizza de- concerns by the Athletics Depart- I1 New England rugby players had This new information comes when the non-student male pro- livery man became physically ag- ment. The women’s rugby team, incurred catastrophic injuries in afterTUPDofficialsadmittedyes- duced a piece of a broomstick gressive with the bat even before which was also initially suspended the past three years. terday that, contrary to what Sgt. handle.” he was struck with the bottle. in June, has since been reinstated Also, he wrote, the committee Paul Riley told the Daily on Sun- Keith said it was still not clear “When he was getting aggressive for the fall season, although at the was concerned about drinking at day, thethree individualswhowere whether the Medford resident with the bat, then people started Division level rather than at rugby games, adequate field con- I11 involved in the fight with DTD struck Blenner with the broom- throwing bottles as they re- Division 11. ditions, and proper supervision at brothers were not Tufts students. stick handle or threw it at him. treated,” he said. “Safety is our main concern,” the Division Ill level. Team mem- Though it was apparently dis- Two bottles were thrown, ac- said Nancy Bigalow, director of bers said that they were not in- Keithsaidthatthismisinforma- tion was due to an error in the carded by a student at the scene, cording to Blenner. Keith said that club sports. formed ofthe suspension until the computer report of the incident, accordingto the TUPD report, the a student who was at the incident On acrusade to improve safety end of the spring. “That was the which incorrectly stated that the broomstickwas recoveredthenext precautions within the sport, the first we ever heard of it,” said has come forward, claiming to combatants were Tufts students. New England Rugby Football Heather Carney, co-president of day when a student found it and TUPD that he saw a bottle come This error was corrected when turned it in. from the direction of a crowd of Union issued a letter to at least 50 the women’s team. senicfYJT3omcersreviewedthe “At this point athird non-Tufts Tufts students, though he has been colleges and university outlining DiBartolo argued that because report, Keith added. unable to identify them. procedures that teams should fol- the teams were not informed until Speaking about the inci- “They just assumed af- low. just before the summer, they did dent to the Daily, Blenner ter hearing the story from In response to the letter, not have ample opportunity to said that he was dissatis- the kids that we threw the Bigalow said, the Athletic commit- address the problems brought up fied with how TUPD bottle first,” Blenner said. tee on the Arts and Sciences fac- by the committee. handled the situation when “They never asked us.” ulty formed a panel of six people But Bigalow said that the com- officers arrived on the Pro- Keith supported the ac- who reviewed the rugby pro- mittee chose to wait until the end fessors Row scene. “I am tions of TUPD Sgt. Will- grams. of the year to inform the teams going to talk to [Associate iams and others, saying, On May 9, the committee met because they did not want the Dean of Students Bruce however, that when the with members of both the men’s meeting to conflict with exams. Reitman] about police han- police arrived a large and women’s team and informed Bigalow agreed that the timing of dling ofthe matter.” crowd had gathered and them oftheir decision to terminate the situation was poor. She said Characterizing the atti- voiced its displeasure that the programs. Daily file photo tude Of ’gt. In a letter to rugby team mem- see RUGBY,page 2 DTD was the site of Saturday’s fight. no arrests had been made iams, one of the officers among the non-students. Despite three resignations, Senate off to strong start by PETE SANBORN hind his resignation. Elections Board (ELBO), which dent of Arts, Sciences, and Tech- Higgins also appeared before the Daily Editorial Board Followingtheresignations, the will organize and run the upcom- nologies is looking into what we Senate in order to begin discus- Exhibitingunusual confidence, Senate elected Rommel Childress ing elections is short of members. can do about it.” sions about the future of halogen efficiency, and enthusiasm, the to replace Pashman as Senate par- “There needs to be people in- Expressing his displeasurew ith lamps in campus dorms. Tufts Community Union Senate liamentarian, aposition for which terested in runningELB0,” he said. the lackof student involvement in The former Somerville fire in- proved that a little experience can Childress campaigned last year. “I wantto reiteratethe importance thechangesin CampusLink’s bill- spector explained that halogen go a long way. In orderto run forparliamentar- of ELBO, and of finding people.” ing process, Mattox said, “I really lamps have been linked to dozens While Sunday’s meeting was ian, Childress Updating the think it has to be understood by of fires nationally, and noted that concluded in under three hours, resigned from Senate on the the administration that if some- 40 million of the torchiere style the body held elections, discussed his post as chair changes to the thing changes, and students are lamps had been recalled as ofAug the developments surrounding of the adminis- CampusLink bill- held accountable by those 10. He said that the University CampusLink, heard from members trationand bud- ing process, changes, there is a need to get plans to ban the use of halogen of UNICCO, and began discuss- get committee, a Goldenberg, a students involved.” lamps on campus beginning next ing the future ofhalogen lamps on position later member of last Hoping to gain the support of Year. campus. filled by histo- year’s student/ the Senate, two former UNICCO Adding that specially designed Three returning senators an- rian Brooke faculty steering employees asked the Senate, dur- refit kits have been ordered to nounced their resignations at the Jamison. committee on ingopenforum,toarrangeaforum decrease the danger of the lamps, onset of the meeting, leaving one L‘Becauseof CampusLink said, or open debate between the ad- Higgins said, “We need students vacancy on the executive board. the three resig- “There was a ministration and the displaced to participate in not using [the Intending to campaign for the nations, there change in the bill- workers. lamps] until wegettheretro-fit kits position oftrustee representative, will be spots for ing process of “We would like to organize into stock.” seniorstacey Delich resignedfiom upperclassmen CampusL i n k. some kindofdebate because there According to the fire marshal, the body. to run for Sen- There were no are a lot of legal issues going on,” once ordered, the free kits would Whilejunior Lee Brenner hinted a t e ,” Sen a t e students there one former employee said.