Growing trend? 17 students in ‘fight club’ arrested
October 27, 2009 by Carol WarnerPosted in: Campus Safety, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views
Seventeen college students were arrested recently because they were involved in a fight similar to the brawls in the 1999 Brad Pitt movie “Fight Club.”
In other words, students competed in brutal physical altercations with stringent, organized rules — just like the characters in the movie.
The recent melee occurred on a commercial street that borderes the University of Tennessee’s Knoxville campus.
According to officers, some of the students fled as law enforcement arrived on the scene. Most students continued to fight viciously, including holding their opponents down while other fighters choked them.
After officers broke up the fight, students claimed they were just playing a game called “Fusion,” and they “were required to do combat with each other,” according to the rules of the game.
Officers arrested all 17 college students and charged them with disorderly conduct.
In an unrelated incident: 31 Tennessee high school students were arrested for similar “fight club” brawls. They face charges of:
- aggravated assault
- participating in prize fighting, and
- disturbance of peace.
Were the college students let off too easily? Should they have received harsher punishments similar to the Tennessee high school teens? Let us know in the comments section below.
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October 28th, 2009 at 10:35 am
These students who involves themselves in fights are mostly emotional, weak, and vulnerable who would allow themselves to be controlled by peer pressures. What can you do about it since it’s probably late for their parents to teach them. I see a lot of these things happens because they grew up in the same environment and were exposed to violence. Love begets love, angerl begets anger. Whose to blame?
October 30th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
This is nothing new. When I was a freshman at Florida State in 2003 the same thing happenned on the tennie courts behind the dorms. I think it’s stupid and childish, but to call the people emotional, weak, and vulnerable is a stretch. No one individual is to blame. They all made the decision to participate in the fights. It’s not like someone had a gun to their head. I just hope this doesn’t start a backlash against movies, TV, etc…because blaming something else for the problem is ridiculous. Instead of blaming an external source, the kids should be held accountable for the decision they made, which it seems is was the school is doing. I just know someone out there is going to start an activist group against this kind of activity taking place. You know what…if you don’t like it, or don’t agree with it, then mind your own damn business. Too many people today make issues a personel vendetta. Just leave it alone.