Miami Student

Issue date: 9/12/08 Section: Front Page

Media Credit: Jeff Creech Students gather at around 9 p.m. Monday night outside President David Hodge's house on High Street. The protests continued into the night.

Around 11:30 p.m. students gathered on opposite sides of High Street separated by a line of police cars.

Hundreds of students at Miami University are protesting outside of President David Hodge's house.

The apparent reason for the protest is the university's continuance of classes on Tuesday, despite a lack of power off-campus. No one could confirm who started the protest or why.

Some students heard word to gather via a text message that read, "Sit in on hodges front lawn at 9oclock. Come and bring chairs if you can. Sober or drunk…just come."

Some students in the crowd said they lived nearby or came from the library, which closed at 9 p.m. When they heard the commotion, they came to see what was going on.

At 9:30 p.m., students were standing along High Street about a block in either direction of the president's house. Police cars lined the road, and one was in the middle of the crowd of students.

A few students were carrying signs and one was carrying a Miami flag. One or two tried to scale trees and lamp posts in the area. One student said he thought the protest would end when the riot cops came.

Reportedly, Hodge was in Columbus and not at his house at the time of the protest.

At around 9:45 p.m., student body President Mike Scott tried to speak to the crowd by using a microphone from a police car. Students couldn't hear him and began to chant over him.

In a phone interview, Scott said police aren't worried about the protest, they are concerned about the crowd in the middle of U.S. Route 27.

"It's a federal highway," Scott said. "The number one concern is student safety."

Scott said students needed a permit to protest in the street, but that police were willing to overlook that if students would move to the grass.

While on the phone, at around 10:20 p.m., Scott said the crowd was the loudest it had been all night and he believed police were beginning to arrest students.

He said while he empathized with students' frustrations about the power outage, the protest is a "dangerous" response to the situation.

Classes were cancelled Monday. A generator powered on-campus dining and residence halls during the day.

Power went out on-campus from 10 p.m. to midnight Monday, although the cause was unclear at the time of publication.

Duke previously alerted the university that when it restored utility power, generators would be turned off and campus would not have power for an hour. It still appears the university is running

The power outage is a result of windy weather that came through Southwest Ohio Sunday afternoon.

Duke Energy's customer service was closed Monday, but a recorded message said more than 800,000 customers in the area lost power due to the storm.

University communications said students and parents can call the university weather line at 513-529-9000 for updates.

MUPD Lt. Ben Spilman said students should stay away from downed trees and power lines, because especially as Duke begins to restore power, those areas are dangerous.

He said the most current information for students and parents is published on Web sites.

The emergency text message system was also used. A text message was sent to warn people about going outdoors in the wind Sunday. One text message was sent Sunday and another Monday to alert students whether classes would be cancelled. To sign up for emergency text messages, go to muohio.edu/police.

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