By Jessica Lavopa
The Stood is meant to be a safe, student-run space, but this weekend the dance floor was turned into a boxing ring.
Late last Saturday night a fight erupted in the Stood around 1:00 a.m. during an event. The participants are currently unknown. The fight grew into over 50 people punching each other and shouting, according to a statement released by the Stood and eyewitness accounts.
These actions allegedly led to one of the Stood coordinators being assaulted while trying to control the chaos. No Stood staff were willing to comment on the record as of March 5.
The students who work at the Stood are trained to handle situations such as this but once public safety is at risk, UPD must be called. Staff at the Stood made it clear in a statement that the call to UPD was not racially motivated.
“There have been many occasions where UPD could have been involved but this was the first time this academic year that stood employees had no choice," read the statement.
Events at the Stood are not always held by the Stood. Some are held by clubs on campus. When this happens, clubs are responsible to hire their own outside security. Security was not hired at the event on Saturday because events on campus are usually able to be controlled, but this one got out of hand.
There will be a public Q&A session at the Stood on March 6 at 8:30 p.m.
The Stood is officially closed until Sat. March 9.
New details about the Stood emerged after eyewitness accounts were given to the Phoenix. Read them here.
This is a developing story.