A newspaper clipping from a May 16, 2011 Lantern article showing hundreds of people surrounding a car on East Woodruff Avenue at Woodfest. Credit: Lantern Archives
The April 18 Chitt Fest was not the first time Ohio State students flipped cars and set fires.
More than 1,000 people gathered on Chittenden Avenue between High and Summit streets after the Ohio State spring game. People flipped and destroyed cars, and although Columbus Police circled the area in a helicopter, police made no arrests on the scene.
Columbus Police have asked for help identifying 18 persons of interest who are seen on video flipping vehicles, standing atop damaged cars and throwing tires.
A look into The Lantern archives reveals that parties-turned-riots have been part of Buckeye history for decades. It also shows that historically, Columbus Police have had a different approach to when and how officers respond to riots — from arrests to pepper spray and rubber bullets.
The 2000s
Shortly after midnight on April 20, 2001, Chitt Fest turned into a riot — the fourth in about a year, according to a Lantern article from that day. Students smashed a car, assaulted another driver, set a dumpster on fire and launched fireworks into the street.
Columbus Police deployed tear gas at about 2:30 a.m. After several surges and failed attempts at dispersing more than 2,000 people in the street, police fired rubber bullets.
One week later, a riot broke out at Norwichfest on Norwich Avenue, prompting police to again use tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowd. According to Lantern archives, one student was hit in the eye with a rubber bullet, causing permanent vision loss.
In a June 2001 Lantern article, then-Undergraduate Student Government Vice President Melissa Koch said the most common reason students gave to explain the riots was that renovations to High Street bars near South Campus meant students had “nowhere to go other than house parties.”
Although the university and city took several steps to address the riots — including then-Mayor Michael Coleman asking stores to not sell glass bottles on weekends and student governments and organizations developing a group to educate students about hosting safe parties — Bill Hall, then-vice president for student affairs, didn’t express confidence that the riots would end.
“Long term, I don’t feel as if we have found a solution,” Hall said in the same June 2001 article.
At the next year’s Chitt Fest, 40 Columbus Police officers in riot gear flooded Chittenden Avenue to break up hundreds of people in the middle of the street. Police used tear gas as many students climbed atop of stopped cars and threw glass bottles at officers.
Twenty-six people were arrested that night, half of whom were Ohio State students. A dozen officers were injured.
Following Ohio State’s 14-9 win against Michigan in November 2002, rioters flipped and destroyed several parked cars, including Jessica Bates’, then a fourth-year in English, whose car was set on fire.
“My mom went to Michigan and all she could say was, ‘Typical OSU,’” Bates said in a November 26, 2006, Lantern article.
A car is set on fire at a riot following the Ohio State-Michigan football game in November 2002. Credit: Lantern Archives
In response, the university established the Task Force on Preventing Celebratory Riots that December. By April 2003, the task force had outlined several recommendations for the university and city in order to prevent future riots, including a proposal to build a municipal court building near “potential riot” sites, planting people inside parties to get video and call authorities, and enforcing alcohol laws more strictly.
Katie Virtue, then a fourth-year in marketing and student member of the task force, said in an April 9, 2003, Lantern article that bystanders staying to watch or encourage riotous behavior only exacerbated situations.
“If there was no audience, people wouldn’t do as much,” Virtue said. “Students need to leave the scene and not cheer on other students.”
David Andrews, chairman of the task force and then-dean of the College of Human Ecology, said having university-sanctioned events at night would serve as alternatives to off-campus parties and decrease the likelihood of riots.
But the university’s own events have a history of violence.
The 1980s
On May 11, 1984, more than 9,500 students and non-students gathered at the Drake Union for an annual Drake Union-sponsored block party. The night ended in several fist fights, officers arresting a man wielding a gun and a first-year student suffering a punctured lung after being stabbed in the chest.
“We had more problems Friday night than the last two Michigan parties,” University Police Supervisor David Hollenbeck said in a May 15, 1984, Lantern article.
A newspaper clipping in 1989 about the university-sponsored block party where more than 70 people were injured and six people were arrested. Credit: Lantern Archives
The party’s problems were blamed on it being “invaded” by non-students due to it being advertised on a local radio station. The assistant director of the Drake Union estimated about two-thirds of the partygoers didn’t attend Ohio State.
Two years later, the university hosted a block party on the South Oval that turned into a riot after students merged with another group on High Street and the power went out in the area. The United Dairy Farmers on High Street and 12th Avenue was robbed and more than 20 people were treated at the university hospital for injuries including stab wounds.
About 75 Columbus Police officers responded to the riot, according to a June 2, 1986, Lantern article. Officers arrested 55 people at the scene.
In May 1989, the Student Life block party was held in the French Field House parking lot. In preparation for the event, the university got 200 volunteers to serve as foot patrol in addition to it being monitored by University Police.
More than 70 people were injured, including five police officers, in fights and surges of about 3,000 people. Six people were arrested on charges including resisting arrest and felonious assault.
In recent history
The last mention of a party-turned-riot in The Lantern archives is from nearly 10 years ago.
More than 1,000 people descended on East Woodruff Avenue for Woodfest in May 2011. At about midnight, Columbus Police used pepper spray to disperse the crowd in the street. Three people, including two Ohio State students, were arrested for assaulting a police officer.
“You cannot take over the streets and you cannot put other people at harm,” then-Columbus Police public information officer Sgt. Richard Weiner said in a May 16, 2011, Lantern article. “When you’re told to move out of the street by officers, and you don’t, you’re going to get that response that we gave last night. We will fog the area.”
The residents East Woodruff Avenue hosted another Woodfest May 18, 2012. The residents of Chittenden Avenue hosted Chitt Fest the next day. Police estimated several thousand people were in the streets at the parties.
Both block parties ended with Columbus Police using pepper spray to disperse the crowds. Three people, including one Ohio State student, were arrested that weekend.
