Tear Gas and Bottles and Beer and Police at College Fest in Kent

College Fest down in Kent, an annual bacchanalia on College Avenue where students live, has had issues in the past, most notably violence, riots, damage, and arrests in 2001 and in 2009.

This year’s affair didn’t reach the those proportions, but it did feature a heavy police presence which led students to throw bottles at cops, which in turn led cops to use tear gas and smoke bombs.

In the video posted below, you can see some of the disturbance for yourself. The day-long drunkfest became “unruly” and “violent” according to authorities; riot gear was donned, 33 arrests were made.

As the tear gas was going off, you could hear the students run through the Time Life Greatest Hits Collection of Drunken Chants: “You suck dick,” and, “Fuck you,” and, “U.S.A, U.S.A.”

Commenters and students are split in the blame game here: some say the cops instigated, some said just the drunk students were at fault, and some said it was just the drunk people who weren’t students that caused all the problems.

Either way, our favorite part of the report from KentWired.com is this, the perfect encapsulation and reminder that college kids sometimes act like college kids, which is oftentimes code for “stupid.”

Two officers warned bystanders not to continue down the street, but Abigail Myers, freshman pre-human development and family studies major, didn’t listen.

“We went down there, and the cops were throwing smoke bombs, at first; and then they kept warning us they’d [use] tear gas, which they did, and they tear-gassed, and that’s why everyone’s leaving — because it burns really bad,” she said.

This article appears in Apr 18-24, 2012.