Food fight breaks out in Treetops Cafe

By Elizabeth Adler
Collegian Staff
October 31, 2007

It all started with an egg roll.

The goofy games of Carnifall, the disappointment of another loss for the football team and the pomp of the half-time Homecoming ceremony came and went. At Fernhill Park, most of the kegs –– at least 12 in number –– were kicked, and the current students and alumni in attendance were mostly cleared out of their unsanctioned festival, leaving their annual stomping ground littered with cups, cans and cigarette butts.

Sam Fran Scavuzzo - Homecomming bash leaves Fernhill Park a mess.

Cue egg roll.

Right after 7 p.m. Oct. 27, a male student standing in the food line threw an egg roll at another male student, igniting a food fight in Treetops Café that resulted in several reportedly drunk students being forcibly removed from the premises by Treetops employees, witnesses said.

Three security guards and two Resident Coordinators arrived on scene to contain the situation, and for a short period of time, the entry gates were closed, and students were denied access.

The student whom the egg roll was aimed at retaliated, and what reportedly started in the Du Jour line promptly moved into the dining section, witnesses said.

Described by one onlooker as being “crazy like a reality TV show,” the fight predominantly concerned two tables, but then spread and grew larger.

“It was a mess,” said Resident Coordinator of St. Basil Court Nicole Pellegrino. “It seemed like drunk students throwing food at sober students, and the sober students weren’t happy about it.”

In corroboration with this account, witnesses claimed that many of the participants seemed heavily intoxicated. Pellegrino said she saw trays with vomit on them and an onlooker alleged that he saw one girl with a can of Natural Light.

When the battle did not die down, several members of the Treetops staff attempted to stop the food fight. With aid from Pellegrino and Andrea Young, the RC of Cassian, Albert, Jerome and Hilary Residence Halls, they managed to disperse the crowd.

Soon after that, three members of Security arrived to offer their assistance. Although witnesses claim they helped contain the crowd, Director of La Salle Security and Safety Art Grover downplayed their involvement.

“By the time the officers arrived, order had been restored,” Grover said. “[Security] did not eject anyone from Treetops.”

No one took the blame for starting the fight, and while both tables were confronted, only students from one table were eventually kicked out by Treetops employees, witnesses said. Several of the ejected students allegedly threw plastic glasses and plates onto the ground, while others left their messes at the table.

Upon seeing this, a female Treetops employee allegedly said, “We’re not your slaves.”

However, other employees were reportedly relatively unfazed.

“There was no physical fighting, only a huge yelling match,” an employee said. “Everything else seemed small in comparison [to the yelling].”

Despite such claims, witnesses say that the fight ended with one student being dragged from the establishment, yelling to another, “You’re dead. The kid in the Eagles hat is dead.”

After the chaos died down, the remaining students joked about the incident. According to sophomore biology major Jackie St. Pierre, “the running joke that night was that we wondered how much of the food consumed would actually stay down.”

Still, many here at La Salle believe this was no joking matter. After being informed of the event, Dean of Students Dr. Joseph Cicala said that the behavior that took place at Treetops on Saturday was “altogether inappropriate and unacceptable in our community.”

However, Cicala also indicated that the Homecoming weekend was very successful overall. Calling attention to a slew of events sponsored by the administration and various student organizations such as Friday night’s haunted house and Saturday’s alumni and student leaders reception, he said that the weekend featured a variety of people contributing positively to the community.

Despite the positives associated with Homecoming, the administration acknowledges the incident was likely due to drunken celebrations, particularly those at Fernhill Park (colloquially refered to as the rugby field).

“I don’t have evidence of that, but it is likely they are connected,” said Associate Dean of Students Alan Wendell.

Wendell indicated that Community Development officials have discussions prior to what many would call party holidays, such as Homecoming and Halloween.

He said that this past weekend the CD staff was “certainly on a heightened level of awareness.”

In line with this, Grover indicated that the university hired Philadelphia police to help staff events, while also scheduling more security officers to work over the weekend.

Last year the rugby team stopped playing at Fernhill Park, so Wendell says there was no way of knowing the unofficial Homecoming event would be taking place there once again this year.

“Being informed of this after the fact, I’m pretty embarassed that are students apparently acted that way,” he said. “It is a blatant disregard for Fairmount Park’s rule against alcohol.”

Mentioning that a few years ago many students frequented Belfield for drinking events, Wendell indicated that the school and the neighborhood worked together to diminish the problem.

Now with students and alumni seemingly entrenched in Fernhill Park, Wendell believes a similar course of action may be down the road.

“We are hearing that neighbors in that area were upset, and why wouldn’t they be,” he said. “Who would want that type of action in their neighborhood?”

adlere1@lasalle.edu