Flash Mob Special Edition

SPECIAL EDITION | VIDEO OF FLASH MOB AT CM-LIFE.com

Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2010

Central Michigan Life

Mount Pleasant, Mich.

[Vol. 91, No. 44]

S t u dents sin g , dance , pa r t y in r ave

Jeff Smith/Staff Photographer

A student dressed as “Green Man” crowd-surfs Monday night across the estimated 2,500 students who flooded Charles V. Park Library as part of a flash mob to help relieve exam stress.

THOUSANDS FLOOD

LIBRARY FOR FLASH MOB Story by Mike Nichols Senior Reporter

E

pic.

It was what many have called the stunt of the semester, after thousands of students flooded Charles V. Park Library Monday night for their own “end of the semester party.”

They raved, threw rolls of toilet paper and beach balls and let shredded study guides fall from the library’s higher floors like rain.

The rave was originally planned through a Facebook event as a flash mob, which occur when a large group of people gather in a public place to perform a unique activity and then quickly disperse. As of 7:30 p.m. Monday night 6,025 people marked that they were going to attend with 2,712 saying that they “might attend.”

Orion senior Nick Bryce used his video camera to capture his crowd-surfing-journey from the library entrance to the second floor. As of 11:40 Tuesday morning the video had been played 461 times on Vimeo.com. CM Life’s video has been viewed more than 1,000 times.

“I was pretty scared going up the stairs when I got close to the edge,” Bryce said, “but everyone supported me.”

Gerald Edgar, manager of library business, said the gate scanners counted 1,488 people moving through the interior doors.

But he guessed there was a good 200 to 300 students still outside in the hall.

“It doesn’t count the people who were already in the building and were standing by the rail,” Edgar said. “You could probably guess about 2,500 people were involved in the rave, but it’s really hard to tell.”

By 7:45 p.m. a large crowd was already gathered outside in the cold by Finch Fieldhouse. A Harrison Township senior, who identified only as Spider-Man and was dressed to match, posed for photos. Like many of the students, it was his first rave and he said he was wearing his Halloween costume.

“I’m just out here to have a good time,” he said. “Everyone’s going to know Spider-Man was out here.”

A flash mob | 2

Jake May/photo editor

St. Clair Shores senior Jordan Freiburger reacts as hundreds of students in the lobby carry him across a sea of hands Monday night in the Charles V. Park Library.

Behind the scenes: Organizers tell all of plans

By Mike Nichols Senior Reporter

It was all for a girl.

Francis Massa, a freshman from Washington D.C., had hoped to win the affection of a cheerleader when he made the alias “Connor Smith” and created the Facebook event that drew thousands to rave in Charles V. Park Library on Monday night.

“I like her a lot and that was the reason,” he said.

“Our motivating factor was

to reach out to more people and for me to reach out to one girl.”

Also behind the flash mob was Massa’s three Campbell Hall roommates — Michael Gnass of Byron Center, Justin Gawronski of Macomb and Cody Gonyeau of Sault Ste Marie. All are freshmen with the exception of sophomore Gonyeau.

The planning began sometime last month. Gnass said they originally wanted to make an impact and be

known.

Most have since considered the flash mob a success though Massa’s attempt to win the girl’s heart was not.

“She said she was disappointed; it wasn’t what she expected for somebody to try and win her heart over,” he said. “She literally just deleted me on Facebook.”

Gnass said they were surprised to see that they had about 4,000 people in only two days.

Police and library fac-

ulty picked up on the event through Facebook chatter and immediately looked into raves and how to handle it.

“I did a lot of research because I had not been involved with a rave or flash mob before,” said CMU Chief of Police Bill Yeagley.

“It’s the newest phase and generation has their latest fad to create their own tradition.”

A the creators | 3

2 || Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2010 || Central Michigan Life

Central Michigan Life || Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2010 || 3

[FLASH MOB]

Jeff Smith/staff photographer

Battle Creek junior David Hanson studies for a calculus exam Monday night as thousands of CMU students fill Charles V. Park Library during a flash mob organized by students on Facebook. “I have my iPod on, and I’m just kind of ignoring it,” Hansen said. “This is ridiculous.”

GONE IN A

FLASH An estimated 2,500 students rushed into Charles V. Park Library Monday night to relieve exam week stress, become part of a party atmosphere for an hour

The creators| continued from 1

Jeff Smith/staff photographer

Thousands of CMU students cheer Monday night as they flood Charles V. Park Library. “The flash mob was epic,” said Midland freshman Derek Herman. “It’s cool that it was organized by students. We did this.”

FLASH MOB|

Dean of Libraries Thomas Moore said they concluded to let the police supervise the rave, but allow the students to enjoy it.

With so many people supporting it, he said it was best to just let it happen and “be regarded as successful.”

“If that many people want to do it,” Moore said, “we’d rather let it happen than to become so restrictive that effectively we’d have to shut down the library to the disadvantage of all the people who wanted to study.”

Lack of notice Yeagley said police tried to locate a “Connor Smith” through the university listing before the event, but had not been able to.

With the lack of prior notice, he said a DJ was turned away and music left unavailable.

“You can’t bring 5-foot speakers into the library without prior notification,” Yeagley said. “It’s hard to reach out and talk to

continued from 1

Around 8 p.m., people outside surged into the library to meet an already gathered crowd, which became so packed that people were pressed against the glass doors, and some were never able to get inside.

No ravers, however, were allowed past CMU Police Officer William Martinez, who blocked off the second floor stairway.

“We’re just here for everybody’s safety,” he said. “As long as nobody gets hurt, it’s all OK.” Alison Timinski said she couldn’t believe how many people were inside the library as she found herself flowing with the crowd up the stairs.

“This is so cool,” the Ludington freshman said. “I’ve never seen this many people here.”

By 9 p.m., participants had dispersed.

Sara Winkler/staff photographer

Thousands of students raved throughout Charles V. Park Library on Monday night. Students came in with toilet paper to stream across the crowd, tore up notes to drop from the third and fourth floors as confetti and crowd-surfing became a regular ordeal.

‘Could Have been better’ The rave was a distraction for those students who were only in the library to study for finals. Josh Brown, a Grand Blanc graduate student, said he was there to finish his paper and had little interest in the thousands of screaming students only feet away.

“I really don’t care as long as nobody bumps into me,” Brown said. “I’m too old for this stuff.”

Police stopped speakers from being brought into the library, preventing music from playing. To compensate, students entertained themselves with other means such as singing, glow sticks and, of course, crowd-surfing.

St. Clair Shores sophomore Sean Vandaele took the entertainment to a new level when he jumped from the stairs into the crowd below him. He said the lack of music was a disappointment.

“It was awesome that they got this together, but we kind of needed some music,” he said.

Eastpointe freshman Rachel Boertmann agreed.

“I did not think that it was very good because there was no music,” Boertmann said. “It was a great crowd, but it could have been better.”

someone when you don’t know who they are.”

Both Moore and Yeagley said they would have been otherwise willing to allow music.

Gonyeau said he thought the faculty and police were worried about safety, though he thought it would have been safer if they had let them play a song and let everyone get it out their system.

“Had the overtures been responded to and there been discussions about ground rules, music would have been available,” Moore said. “That didn’t happen. The result of which was the police and we all thought it advisable that when they brought speakers in we say no.”

The group in Campbell had been reluctant to reveal their real names out of fear they might get in trouble for planning a rave.

But Tony Voisin, assistant dean and director of Student Life, said no one should be too worried since there was there was no criminal activity.

“I’m not out looking to build any case against anyone or do any investigation,” Voisin said.

“There’s not been any complaints that we’re working with and I’ve not heard that there was any damages.”

Police and the library reported no property damage or larceny, which Moore said he was thankful for.

Gerald Edgar, manager of library business, said he inspected the aftermath and found everything in tact.

“I went around the building pretty thoroughly and I’ve had no one report anything to me today,” Edgar said. “I think we got away pretty lucky. “ Moore thought that overall it went well. Something he appreciated was how a handful of students stayed afterward to clean up the mess left by the mob.

“It tells me that some people who participated said, ‘It’s not as clean as it was when we started so let’s see if we can doing something about it.’” he said. “I thought it was very nice.” studentlife@cm-life.com

“You can’t bring 5-foot speakers into the library with out prior notification. It’s hard to reach out and talk to someone when you don’t know who they are.”

Bill Yeagley, CMU chief of police

Adam pastuzyn/staff photographer

studentlife@cm-life.com

Jake may/photo editor

A CMU student is tossed around by hundreds of people while crowd-surfing Monday night at Charles V. Park Library.

Torn papers lay across the second and first floors of the library after the hour-long party.

Thomas Moore, dean of libraries, estimated 2,500 students were in attendance at the flash mob rave Monday night. “This is just awesome. Look at how many people are here,” said Armada senior Dan Gould. “I can’t believe this. Seriously, this should happen way more often. This is what it’s all about.”

Sean proctor/staff photographer

Thomas Moore, dean of libraries, looks up toward the fourth floor as he watches the flash mob rave unfold Monday night.

4 || Wednesday, Dec. 8, 2010 || Central Michigan Life

[News]

www.cm-life.com

HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM CM LIFE