After police arrested over 20 James Madison University students at a huge off-campus party-turned-riot last weekend, the university's president is seeking ways to ease tensions between Harrisonburg residents and JMU students.
JMU President Linwood H. Rose asked a committee to study town-gown relations after a crowd of students - which one on-looker estimated at "at least 2,500" people - clashed with police.
Neighborhood residents had called the police to complain about excessive noise. When police arrived on the scene, they found a large crowd, including some students who reacted violently to the police presence.
One officer was injured and the Virginia State Police descended to restore order.
JMU junior Sean Magee, who was at the riot, said he thought police were overly eager to break up the gathering.
"It seemed like they got a little ahead of themselves," Magee said. "It just seems like they way overreacted."
JMU sophomore Beth Kapinos agreed the behavior of the police seemed hostile, although she said the mood around the Harrisonburg campus has calmed since the incident.
"Everyone's over it," Kapinos said.
Rose charged the Community Coalition - a group of local residents, business owners, landlords, students and law enforcement agencies - with examining underlying issues behind the riot and recommending ways to prevent such incidents in the future, including reducing town-gown tensions.
Director of University Communications Fred Hilton said Rose hopes the coalition can give recommendations quickly and get to the heart of the conflict.
"Students are expected to obey the law," Hilton said.
In his statement, Rose said the JMU community "deeply regrets" the incident and plans to take steps to assure the situation does not arise again.
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