DURHAM, Sept. 27 -- One week after University of New Hampshire police used dogs, pepper spray and riot gear to disperse a gathering of 600 students here, the campus has returned to an uneasy calm, fraught with paranoia and distrust.
Although there have been no major disturbances this weekend, both students and police are tense.
State and local police patrol on foot and by squad car, and television networks have set up video cameras in areas where students are known to congregate. Police are also using cameras to aid prosecution of unruly students, and hope that this will discourage students from gathering.
Many students blame the riots on new restrictions on fraternities. Parties with alcohol are no longer permitted, and students swarm around Durham looking for places to unwind.
"The reason we're having this riot is because the university is [expletive] crunching down on the Greeks, and this is what comes of it," UNH senior Jason Belodoff told The New Hampshire, the student newspaper. "We're going to have more riots if this keeps up."
"People no longer have a place to party," UNH senior Brendan Monahan said in an interview with The Dartmouth. "This is what it comes down to. You got to let go. It's tension -- you got to release."
Students say police have provoked them by showing up at parties in large numbers. Last week, police from 17 departments attempted to keep the peace here.
But Town Councilor Vi McNeill says it is alcohol abuse, and not the police, that have lead to the riots.
"This behavior cannot be blamed on police presence, university restrictions or rules of any sort," McNeill said. "This was nothing more than a drunken, unruly mob of college kids looking for a place to party. They had been swarming all night with no place to go."
UNH President Joan Leitzel said in her State of the University address on Tuesday, "Students responsible for disruptions will receive the strongest sanctions permitted under the code of student conduct, including suspension and dismissal."
Leitzel said the community has "zero tolerance for persons who threaten the safety of others."
