At the stroke of midnight, an 80-year curse ended and AU students poured into the Letts-Anderson Quad to celebrate the falling of a dynasty.
A crowd of nearly 400 students consumed the Quad, chanting, "Yankees suck" and "Boston Red Sox!" while competing with baton-bearing Public Safety officers.
Some chanted, some cried, some got hurt and others just stared in disbelief from their rooms to see a semi-riot in the heart of campus develop and then dissipate when officers used crowd-control methods to quell the mob.
"This is ridiculous," said Harley Conner, a sophomore. "Public Safety came out with their night sticks and pushed and swung at us, when we didn't do anything." Friends surrounding Conner also said they were hit and pushed by Public Safety officers.
Public Safety was apparently called after noise levels rose to illegal levels immediately following the game.
"The noise levels were against the rules," said Amber Lange, resident director of Letts Hall. "It started right after the game."
One officer drove a campus vehicle toward a large crowd of students gathered in front of Anderson Hall. With sirens blazing, the vehicle stopped near students. As they threw beer bottles at the car, the driver reversed, again coming close to onlookers.
Public Safety and Metro Police Department officers were not available for comment at press time.
Many of the students came out to simply support their team in their time of triumph.
"Let them have fun for one night," said Nicholas Glass, a freshman.
Some members of the Residential Hall Association said they were surprised by the events.
"I am really mad," said Jomita Smith, residential director of Anderson Hall. "This is just, I was not expecting this at all. But thanks to MPD for showing up."
Resident Assistant Alex Jordan, who was stationed at the front desk during the events, said RAs were concerned with ensuring students' security and making sure they could sleep and study.
"Of all the places I had to be when the Red Sox won, I had to be behind the front desk of Letts," Jordan said..
Robert Kane, a freshman, described what he saw
"People just flooded out after the game," Kane said. "It was one of the funniest things I've ever seen"
