Rioting WWU Student Twerks Bellingham Squad Car
This is a story that has received extensive coverage in the Washington State news media, but does not seem to have made a dent in the national media yet. According to a story in the Daily Mail, some four hundred students at Western Washington University threw a party on October 12 that quickly turned into a riot. Bottles were thrown at the police. One coed (above) twerked a Bellingham squad car. Finally, the police went into riot mode and dissipated the crowd with smoke bombs.
The University responded by threatening to discipline the students involved in the riot with expulsion.
Although I am sure it was an unpleasant scene for both the students and the police, I cannot help but wonder what was behind it all. College students around the country must feel that they are getting the short end of the stick. A college education now costs a fortune, and there is no guarantee that a nice plum of a job is waiting for the graduates. At the same time, universities around the country are suffering budget cuts, which in turn affects the quality of the high-priced education that the students are receiving.
From another point of view—that of my generation—these kids are just out of control. They’re spending their parents’ hard-earned money on booze and drugs and going wild at the drop of a hat.
Who’s right?
Rioters in Bellingham
Perhaps both are right. I tend to think that the drunk students who are identified to the university’s administration be disciplined, but not expelled with an arrest on their permanent record. I feel that things are grim enough for millennials across the U.S. Some decades ago, I received a great education at an Ivy League college for a small fraction of what the students are paying today for a somewhat less-than-great education. It was a different society then. When we graduated, there were jobs waiting for us. Now what’s waiting for tomorrow’s grads is a return to their parents’ house where they will continue to be infantilized, despite best intentions.
The American education system, like our health care system, is broken. No one knows yet how to fix them. Until such time, we need to understand what is happening and remain flexible in our response.
Tarnmoor 
Kid going wild at parties and spending their parents’ hard-earned money on booze and drugs? Girls twerking police cars and posting it on Youtube and Facebook? I am shocked, shocked, that our youth behaves exactly as we did, only with digital distribution…an argument against evolution, or against intelligent design? Maybe they can channel that into some political protests, as well. One can hope :)
Oh, come now, Lynette — surely you never twerked the fuzz! If you had, please post pictures….
We didn’t call it twerking :) I did get hancuffed to a chain-link construction fence near the Research Library, during the protests. I also got tear-gassed, but not too bad. I was on my way home from the Library where I worked, trying to get to the bus stop area. I broke my high heel running away from the police, stumbled, and got caught in the all purpose drag net. The LAPD guy who handcuffed me, brought me water, later let me go, and asked me out. He was kind of cute, for a cop. Ah, youth.
It was a different time. Interesting way of asking for a date. Kind of like that off-duty cop in South Carolina who cuffed a woman at the bar because she wouldn’t go out with him.