Halloween in Albany was never going to be an ordinary night. After the ‘Kegs ‘n’ Eggs’ incident of 2011, it was only a matter of time before UAlbany showed its spirits through violent behaviour again, and we got a treat on Halloween night.
As a British student, I had not experienced an all-American Halloween before. I knew it was a big day in the social calendar and couldn’t wait to see what wonders would be about. Going downtown for Cider Belly donuts, I expected to see a few costumes out and about but not the sheer amount that I actually saw. Who knew adults were as in to the dressing up as students are? Seeing a woman in full 18th century attire, I thought it couldn’t get much better. But oh no, I saw pirates and punks and even a Cookie Monster walking in and out of office buildings. It’s amazing how Halloween gives the dullest of people a boost of confidence allowing them to walk around the Capital Region in full witch’s attire. I would say, however, that my first trip to Party City and the chaos I witnessed there was what we English students would call foreshadowing, a warning of the events to come.
Finally getting to the actual night of Halloween and a cluster of masked people began to cover the streets of Downtown Albany. The parties got into full swing about 11:30pm and everyone was having the usual fun – which involved being forced inside houses so the police wouldn’t notice the party that was obviously happening and then drinking warm beer after a 30 minute wait at the keg. All the fun of a regular house party, but with the added bonus of having to manoeuvre around people’s extended bits of costume.
Outside, on Quail Street at approximately 1:30am, the Halloween spirit was taken too far. People gathered outside of DP Dough and Professor M Barley’s on the corner of Western and Quail and decided to take it upon themselves to start chanting abusive words to the police and start fights with each other. It may not have been to the same extent that the riots of ‘Kegs ‘n’ Eggs’ escalated to, but this was still pretty bad.
People started the riots by throwing a beer bottle at a police car on Western Avenue, which then proceeded to police reacting with pepper spray so that people would move on. The enthusiasm from everyone around chanting ‘USA’ and thoroughly enjoying themselves with the entertainment in front of them provoked the rowdy group to continue pushing the police even further.
After the police were able to disperse the crowd from Quail and Western, the party moved up a block to State Street where a guy proceeded to use his car as a giant speaker so everyone could dance in the street and on top of cars. Twenty minutes later, the police finally caught on to what was going on in the new location and headed straight for the crowd. They formed a human wall and began to pepper spray people again which eventually broke everyone up.
What does this say about the state of collegiate behaviour here at UAlbany? In some ways it shows the lack of respect people here have for authority, property and each other. If having a drink can cause a mass outbreak of violence, doesn’t that suggest that the students here have tendencies that lean towards the destructive?
However, from a student perspective, the riots were a response to the overbearing watch of the police on the weekends. Students are constantly shifted along and forced to hide in basements in order to be able to have a good time. Even then, the parties are often shut down by cops forcing their way into suspicious-looking houses . Maybe the domineering nature of the Albany Police Department is causing the students at UAlbany to become these riotous types who need to be controlled. The vicious cycle of events prevail with this attitude and so the more we are suppressed, the more we riot and then the more we riot, the harder the crack down on drunken behaviour and tolerance will become in Albany.
Being from the UK, it is hard for me to understand why the legal drinking age is 21. It seems to be forcing college students into houses where guys can take advantage and charge a fortune on the door for a cup of beer and also puts them at risk. Surely it is better to let the police do their jobs where they are really needed – like the armed robberies that have happened here which still haven’t been solved – and allow students to go to bars where the staff there can monitor behaviour. The police not trusting students is forcing us into situations where students feel the need to lash out and cause more damage than need be.
The situation in Albany seems to be that the police do not trust house parties but the students have nowhere else to go. So by constantly shutting down frat parties, students are ending up on the street in a bad mood and extremely intoxicated. From there, we have seen what happens. Students get more aggressive and so the police retaliate in the same way.
There is no happy medium for the relationship between the two and Halloween 2014 showed this in full swing.
Photo courtesy of Yash Raj