5 UMass students expelled in riot case

The University of Massachusetts expelled five students yesterday for their alleged role in an on-campus post-football game riot last week that caused an estimated $100,000 in damage and left parts of the Amherst campus littered with shards of glass and smoldering debris.

In addition, the university suspended one student for a year, deferred two students' suspensions until after a hearing next month, and placed one student on probation -- the first round of what officials said may be numerous disciplinary actions stemming from the undergraduate mob fracas.

The university and Amherst police have launched a campaign to identify rioters using video and photos from that Dec. 15 night.

"Police report that they are making good progress, and hope to identify additional students from the video evidence and bring additional charges," Ed Blaguszewski, a UMass spokesman, said in a telephone interview.

The riots followed the UMass football team's 28-17 loss to Appalachian State in the Division 1-AA championship game in Chattanooga, Tenn. Nearly 2,000 students streamed into a residential section of campus about 11 p.m., hurling bottles and tires at police, and setting various objects afire. Ten students were arrested.

The students expelled yesterday were among those led away by police. The students' expulsion will not be finalized until a disciplinary hearing on campus next month.

The riot came at a time of heightened tension between local police and UMass students. Law enforcement officials have stepped up dormitory patrols and drug searches. Students, in protest, have circulated petitions decrying such actions as authoritarian. But student leaders strongly condemned the riot.

"Most of us in the student government and other student organizations are against the overall spirit of the riots and against destroying our own living space and portraying an image of students . . . almost as children," said Elvis Mendez , a 20-year-old junior from Framingham who is the president of the campus student government.

"A lot of students are very upset that tuition and fees continue to rise and on top of this we have to pay for damages and cleanup," he added.