The quality of the resulting videos that have appeared around the Internet varies wildly, from professional footage aired on CBS to a collection of blurry colors that appear to be shot with camera phones after a great deal of alcohol.

And anyone from outside of College Park who saw these videos may have noticed the “David’s Shoe Repair” and wondered whether they were looking at the set of a 1920s movie.

A cross section of these videos appear below. If you were at the College Park riot/celebration March 3, you may very well recognize yourself here:

Video by The Diamondback’s Adele Hampton (who got a face full of pepper spray to bring it to you):

Video by WUSA (Channel 9)

Video by WTOP:

CBS News video:

We all know the riot/demonstration happened at night — this video includes post-processing brightening to useful effect:

And three more:

So I trust everyone had a good time last night. We at The Diamondback certainly did, working until 4 a.m. on our respective stories.

It occurred to me that people may have forgotten what actually happens to students who participate in riots — the last one was in 2006 after the women’s national championship game, which is before this senior class even came to the university. If you need a refresher and you either weren’t downtown last night or don’t remember much from last night, here’s some things you should know:

They look ready for a pinata party ...

> They come in a Tank: When the county and university forces gear up for a potential riot, they make sure to pack their guys into what basically is an armored bus. Last night, the “tank” moved in and deployed units to “disperse” students who reportedly had set fire to a tree near Montgomery Hall. If you see it coming, you should probably start moving in the opposite direction. It doesn’t have a cannon, just a whole lot of officers inside with riot shields and nightsticks.

> They don’t have “rubber” bullets, but they have something that stings: When I asked University Police spokesman Paul Dillon last night if riot-control units were using rubber bullets, he corrected me: “We have FN 303s.” It’s known as the “less lethal launcher,” and it’s what the Army uses to get people to stop throwing stones at them. It appears from this video to be pneumatically powered, sort of like a paintball gun, but it takes people out. I wouldn’t want anything called “less lethal” pointed at my body.

>Tear gas is not fun: How do we know police used tear gas last night to disperse the crowd? At least four of our staff members got hit with the stuff, and they’ll be the first to tell you it sucks. There were reports last night of people who had their eyes swelled shut, and as you can see from this video of a Canadian protest, it also causes nausea. What should you do if you get sprayed in the face? Our staff recommends rinsing the afflicted area with milk to help neutralize the chemicals in the gas. Otherwise, you’re in for a long night.

> They can call in the cavalry: Some students were surprised to see officers on horseback — don’t be. University Police and Prince George’s County Police had teamed up with Park Police to get in mounted officers. Dillon observed that the horses were pretty effective at getting people to move away, and as we all know from Braveheart, it’s pretty hard to win a battle without cavalry.

> You’re not just going to get arrested: That’s right, you can be kicked out of school. Any students arrested can also be referred to the Office of Student Conduct for university sanctions. Although in the last riot sentencing was relatively light, the administration has warned in the past that any punishment for students involved in a riot would be harsher than last time. That means mom and dad won’t be too happy.

Final Note: For those who got injured in the rioting, if you’re looking into legal action against the cops, be aware that precedent is not on your side. A student injured in a Duke riot in 2005 sued county police officers after he said he was shot with what he claimed was an FN 303 round near his eye, but he lost the case. The message police drew from that was if a student is in a crowd of rioters, they’re part of the riot — even if they are trying to help other students or covering the event for student media. Maybe you’ll have more luck, though.

UC San Diego may be ablaze with controversy over students hanging nooses in the library and fraternities hosting “Compton Cookouts,” but Towson University fired a professor after he made a racist comment during class.

Professional artist Allen Zaruba, who is an adjunct professor at the university, compared his rights and situation as an adjunct to “a n***** on the corporate plantation.”

Adjunct Professor Allen Zaruba

A student reported him after the class and Zaruba was fired over the phone. Though Zaruba apologized, he said his recent unemployment only proves his point that adjuncts get few employment rights.

“I just finished talking to a lawyer,” Zaruba said. “I have no ability to appeal anything.”

Some students in his class, however, told Towson’s student newspaper, The Towerlight, that Zaruba, was honest and blunt in his language, something they did not have a problem with.

“He used the word to illustrate a point. He wasn’t trying to offend anyone. And obviously … we were understanding,” Maria Bernier, a sophomore studio art major said “And going into our class, you kind of should expect some level of shockingness and, you know, in your face [content].”

The kicker? Zaruba says his stepfather was black, a man he “loved dearly”.

“I am not a racist,” he said. “I never have been. I’ve been raised overseas and in other cultures. It just absolutely kills me.”

Bible?

Or bunny?

The way members of the Atheist Agenda at the University of Texas-San Antonio see it, UTSA students have more use for Penthouse or Playboy than the Quran or the Bible.

The student atheists kicked off their highly publicized annual “Smut for Smut” campaign on Monday, manning a booth in the middle of a crowded campus plaza where passersby can trade in religious texts for pornography.

In past years, the controversial publicity stunt has garnered new members and a ton of press, including a chance for an Atheist Agenda president to debate Tucker Carlson on MSNBC in 2005.

This year, hundreds of protesters circled the booth, singing hymns and holding signs that read “Jesus Saves” and “Jesus Loves the Atheist Agenda”. The student atheists held their ground on the stairs of a campus building, proclaiming their belief that texts like the Bible promote misogyny, intolerance, violence and genocide. Meanwhile, agnostics sat in the middle, attempting to keep the peace between the two sides.

And now for a breakdown of the factions. From the San Antonio Express-News:

“It’s a First Amendment right,” said Bradley Lewis, 18-year-old freshman from Pearland who said he plans to join the Atheist Agenda. “If religious groups can put out missionaries and go knock on my door and wake me up at 7 a.m. on a Saturday morning, I can put a table outside of the college.”

Robin Lorkovic, an 18-year-old freshman from Houston, disagreed. Lorkovic stood near the “Smut for Smut” table holding a cardboard sign that said “God Loves You! Keep your Bible and learn from it!”

“I don’t really feel like that is appropriate at all,” Lorkovic said. “I am a Christian, I believe in God’s love and I am here to stand my ground and stand up for what I believe in.”

Let’s hear from the agnostics, quoted in the UTSA student newspaper The Paisano:

“Well, we don’t really believe in either side. We believe both foster hate,” UTSA junior Victoria Arzu said. “They know they’re doing it for show, and they know that either party could be mistaken in their beliefs. We choose an agnostic position because it’s the smartest thing to do.”

Later in the afternoon, Atheist Agenda president Carlos Morales debated one of the Christian protesters in a civil fashion before the crowd. And that’s really what the event is all about, those involved say:

“This is ultimately why this is going on,” Lewis said. “It’s an ice breaker to get people talking about these things.”

Protests at UC San Diego

Quick Hits:
The Fort Totten Metro site is inspected for wildlfe after employees were caught feeding raccoons.

A new report finds Maryland, Virginia and D.C. lagging behind other states in preparing students for college.

And, hey, apparently tickets for the Maryland-Duke basketball game tonight are the hottest in years. One law student in a Baltimore Sun article, could not afford tickets, and put out an ad on Craigslist offering free legal services in exchange for the coveted tickets.

If Virginia Tech finds out that any of its students have been drinking underage, that student’s parents will now be the first to know.

Under a new policy, the school will notify parents in writing even over their student’s most minor alcohol violations, the Associated Press reports.

Virginia Tech officials told the AP that their new system gives parents more warning before their student is suspended for repeat alcohol offenses, and helps parents “in setting boundaries” for their kids.

“We’re grateful for the positive involvement of parents,” the university’s vice president for student affairs told the AP.

Students, meanwhile, said they’d be more grateful if their parents and their university would mind their own business.

“Now that we’re all in college, we’re all adults. It’s kind of your responsibility to take care of yourself. If you want to make your parents aware you’re about to be kicked out of school, then it’s on you,” a VT junior told the AP.

Students at this university who share that philosophy need not fear — just yet, anyway. While UMD hasn’t threatened to contact parents over a single beer, the AP story describes Virginia Tech as “part of a small but growing number” of strict schools.

For example, did you know that four in ten of us have a tattoo? Or that 20 percent of us have posted a video of ourselves online?

Perhaps the most consequential conclusion of the study is that we’re on track to become the most educated generation in American history. But, and this is one hell of an asterisk, we’re also the least employed on record.

Nonetheless, the answers given by about 1,000 of the 50 million Millenials indicate that we’re still confident about the future, upbeat and more open to change than our elders.
We’re less religious, less likely to be married, less likely to have grown up in a two-parent household, more liberal and we volunteer more than those who have gone before us.

At the same time, having grown up in the age of terror, we’re more paranoid but less skeptical of the government. The Millenials were among President Barack Obama’s strongest supporters, with 60% voting for him in 2008 compared with 50% of those 30 and older — the largest gap in voting patterns between two generations in four decades of exit polling.

Does this sound like you? Find out just how Millenial you are by taking Pew’s quiz here.