Although Syracuse University students have followed the trend of storming the court after victories, officials are taking measures to ensure students don’t take the example of other college students and riot after potential big wins this weekend.

In an attempt to stop a problem before it starts, the Office of Public Safety and the Syracuse Police Department will have an increased presence around the SU campus and in the university area to prevent any problems, said Wes Bird, assistant director of Public Safety.

In 1996, the last time Syracuse was in the Final Four, an added presence was brought to the university area by police, said Lt. Joe Cecile, Syracuse Police Department spokesman. A group of more than several officers will patrol Marshall Street while the off-campus safety patrol that normally occurs on those nights will be doubled if not have more officers, Cecile said.

This idea stemmed from a meeting between members of the Office of Off-Campus Student Services, Student Activities, Judicial Affairs and other university groups where potential problems were discussed, Bird said.

“This is precautionary. We don’t want anything to get out of hand,” he said. “We don’t predict a problem Friday, but Sunday there could be.”

If SU wins its game versus Auburn University on Friday, more officers will be brought in Sunday night as even more precaution, Cecile said.

Last spring, after the University of Maryland won the NCAA men’s basketball championship, students at Maryland destroyed property around campus. As a result, the university police department and the Prince George’s County Police Department will both have additional patrols as Maryland plays in the NCAA tournament, said Maj. Cathy Atwell of the public information office at the Maryland Police Department.

“It is normal in the sense that we need to respond to what happened last year when we had fans in the streets causing disruptions,” she said.

Dave Deblasio, a freshman marketing and entrepreneurship major, said he was on the campus of the University of Massachusetts when the New England Patriots made the Super Bowl in 2002, and a group of students began rioting in the streets. Deblasio said it was a crazy time and extra police presence at SU would be a good idea.

“It was fun, but there would definitely need to be a few more cops around,” he said.

The patrols on Marshall Street will be funded by SU, but the extra patrols in the university area will come from the same grant that covers the cost of the patrols each weekend in the university area, Cecile said. Some extra money is included in the grant for times when an extra patrol is needed.

Maryland pays for the extra university police that will need to be on campus, but Prince George’s County pays for the extra police officers that will be on campus, Atwell said.

Adam Hardgrove, a junior broadcast journalism major, thinks all the extra security at this point in the tournament is useless.

“Right now it is totally stupid. After the Sweet 16 and us playing Auburn?” he said. “For the Final Four, yea, but I think it is a waste of money.”

Published on March 27, 2003 at 12:00 pm