When a party gets out of hand

T hat a seemingly innocent sorority fundraiser can turn into a mob scene with city police breaking up the crowd is cause for great concern. Thursday night, Alpha Chi Omega's annual Big Man on Campus event turned into such a scene at World Cafe Live during which Penn and Philadelphia Police were dispatched to stabilize the situation.

As much as students would like to claim that police used excessive force or that the police assert the crowd was disorderly and out of control, passing blame on either side solves little.

These events do, however, call for a full investigation by the University and by the Philadelphia Police Department as to what the situation was and how it was handled.

Part of this will require student participation. Police said after the incident that anyone who felt harmed by the actions taken should file a formal complaint. So far, the police department has received zero complaints.

At the same time, scores of people are bickering about how they were mistreated among other things. The only way an investigation can occur is if complaints are actually filed.

But beyond police action, which may very well be found appropriate, another serious question pertains to the cause of the uproar in the first place.

World Cafe Live had scheduled a CD release party before the widely anticipated BMOC contest Thursday night. That event was supposed to be over by 10 p.m. That clearly was not the case.

Had World Cafe Live been more on top of scheduling and managing the crowds that were there, all of this could have been avoided -- at least to some extent. And bouncers at the event were not helping themselves by moving the already-large crowd to the alley below the Walnut Street bridge, where it was easier for them to spread out and become disorganized. But again, these are only minor pieces of a larger puzzle.

After all, the BMOC event has been the source of several conflicts in years past. It would be appropriate in light of this year's incident for the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs to consider why it was allowed in the first place, and whether such an event should continue.

For the University, it is clear that something broke down in the system. Not only did Penn students attend the event, but the party was approved, hosted and dispersed by entities affiliated with the University. Something is clearly wrong with this equation, and the administration owes it to its stakeholders to figure out what can be done to prevent future problems.

That future is fast approaching. Alpha Phi is hosting a fundraising event at World Cafe this Thursday night. Without change, it is quite possible a similar breakdown in the system could occur.

Given the status of this venue, it is in Penn's best interest to see that it does not.

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