Syracuse police arrested eight Syracuse University students outside of the Schine Student Center after breaking up a fight that occurred during a student dance party early Sunday morning.

Eight students were arrested on charges that included disorderly conduct, obstruction of government administration, resisting arrest and harassment.

A ninth student was arrested on charges of obstruction of government administration and harassment after he went to the police station to check on a friend and was accused of touching and rudely speaking to an officer.

It is not yet clear what started the fight, according to a Syracuse Police Department news release.

SPD Sgt. Tom Connellan said the arrests were for both fighting and interfering with arrests.

As the dance party was ending at about 1:45 a.m., SU Department of Public Safety officers, who were already at the event as scheduled security detail, shut down the event after several attendees began to fight, according to a statement from Kevin Quinn, senior vice president for public affairs, who also responded on behalf of DPS Chief Tony Callisto.

DPS officers instructed attendees, both SU students and students from neighboring colleges, to leave the building, according to the statement.

DPS called Syracuse police for assistance in breaking up the continuing confrontation, according to the release. When SPD arrived, hundreds of students were leaving Schine and several fights were taking place outside of the building, according to the release.

Students at the scene said they did not see any weapons used in the fights.

Officers faced resistance when they attempted to disperse the crowd, according to the release.

The dance party, called “Faded,” was scheduled for 11:30 p.m. in Goldstein Auditorium, according to the Schine Box Office website. “Faded” was the first collaborative party between the National Association of Latino Fraternal Organizations and the National Pan-Hellenic Council, according to the event’s Facebook page.

What started as a small fight in the center of the auditorium escalated quickly into a brawl as people joined in, said Sophia Little, a junior communications design major who attended the event.

Little said the situation became chaotic as the party broke up. Officers were cursing and yelling, she said, and people were trampled.

By the time officers started to use mace on students, the majority of the crowd had already left the auditorium, she said.

One of the arrested students said the confrontations continued outside of Schine. Other witnesses said they saw multiple smaller fights occurring in the area between Schine and E.S. Bird Library after the party broke up.

All of the arrests took place after the fight was over and the party had been shut down, said a student who was arrested. They said they were not involved in the initial altercation inside of Schine or any altercations outside the building.

Officers transported eight students to the Onondaga County Justice Center and booked them pending arraignment in Syracuse City Court, according to the SPD release.

All of the students spent the night in jail and were arraigned at9:30 Sunday morning.

—Editor in Chief Mark Cooper and Asst. Copy Editor Dylan Segelbaum contributed reporting to this article.

Published on February 4, 2013 at 1:18 am