Showing that football fans at Brown and Dartmouth share at the very least a keen criminal mentality, eight Brown football supporters rushed Memorial Field during halftime of Saturday's Brown-Dartmouth game.
According to Hanover Police Captain Chris O'Connor, all of the "gentlemen" who entered the field were from Brown University. The field-rushers were arrested and charged with criminal trespassing as a violation and not a crime, O'Connor said.
A violation is a lesser crime than a misdemeanor, O'Connor said. It carries a maximum fine of 1,000 dollars but does not appear on the violator's criminal record.
Until recent years, rushing the field at home football games was a Dartmouth freshman tradition. At halftime of every home football game, eager freshmen would climb over the walls of the stands and run around the field showing their Dartmouth spirit as upperclassmen cheered them on.
In recent years, however, the College and Hanover Police have cracked down on the field-rushers, prohibiting the activity. Both the police and the College said the tradition was dangerous.
On Saturday, however, the Brown students were oblivious to the College's warnings.
The eight students jumped over the fence and ran to midfield before the police could react. As the field-rushers jumped around and celebrated their security breach in the middle of the field, Hanover Police officers converged on the group, flanking them from all sides.
The Brown students were brought to the stadium gate where they were read their rights and charged. While they were not taken to the Hanover police station, they were banned from returning to the stadium.
Brown freshman Justin Monti, who traveled all the way from Providence for the game, said the field rushers were all pledges at the Chi Kappa Sigma fraternity. Monti said the pledges were on a pledge trip and rushed the field to "celebrate our short-lived lead."
Brown, which has won only one football game this year, led Dartmouth, 7-3, at the half. Dartmouth went on to win 10 to seven.
O'Connor said police usually focus attention on the Dartmouth grand stand because field rushers are usually Dartmouth students. He said the police were caught off guard when the field was rushed from the visitors' side.
O'Connor said police were careful to arrest and charge the Brown students in the same way they would if the rushers had been Dartmouth students.
"We did not want to send the wrong message, that Dartmouth students get arrested but Brown students don't," he said.
According to O'Connor, the trespassing incident "didn't reach the classification of a crime" because the trespassers were not explicitly notified that rushing the field was illegal.
"If they had been told before they entered the field that no one is licensed and privileged to be on the field, that would make it a crime, " he said.
O'Connor said the violators were currently negotiating a plea-bargain with his office. Because the field-rushers have been charged with a violation and not a crime, they can enter a plea by mail to the Hanover District Court, he said.
If they plead guilty, the field-rushers will have to pay a fine levied by a judge in Hanover. If they plead innocent, a trial will be scheduled and they will have to appear in Hanover District Court to defend themselves.
"I told them to stay consistent with Dartmouth students who have been arrested for rushing the field in the past," O'Connor said.
O'Connor said the police do not take the crime of rushing the field lightly and that rushers from Dartmouth have received $100 fines.
Seven Dartmouth students were arrested at last year's Homecoming for rushing the field.
Those students were charged with the same violation as the Brown rushers.
This year, the College prevented the problem by organizing an administration sanctioned freshman rush at the Homecoming football game against Colgate. Many students complained that it robbed the prank of its rebelliousness.
