The riots are getting out of control. Well duh, isn’t that obvious? However, lets try to figure out what people decide to gather in Southwest and scream, chant, and jump off the DC.

There’s been big wins and big losses at this school before. You think this is the first time any sports team has done well? The Celtics have numerous league championships, so do the Bruins. And despite the stupid “curse of the Bambino,” the Red Sox have done well in previous years. So it’s not like we’ve never won anything before.

However, UMass, especially Southwest, is the focus of such negative publicity that now people feel that they have to riot. We are in national newspapers, local newspapers, and all over the Internet. My roommate was reading up on the Yanks/Sox series and UMass was actually on si.com (Sports Illustrated). Daily, in “The Gazette” they trash UMass for its reputation.

But the school can’t exactly go at these news organizations. It’s not like it’s defamation of character or anything like that; it’s certainly true.

So what can the school actually do about all the publicity? I was driving through Southwest about two hours before the final game of the A’s series, and I saw vans for Fox News and for CBS. A girl in a class of mine told me that during a riot there was somebody for ABC news getting quotes from everyone he could about what was going on (keep in mind, this is in the middle of the riots).

So how to solve this? Get the media and the press out of Southwest. It’s that simple. Also, if the police see anyone with a video camera during the riots, grab them (or at least grab the tape). Getting rid of the tape recorders will greatly cut down on the amount of publicity the school gets. You can go on Kazaa anytime you want and download a handful of riots movies. You think that’s good for high school seniors and their parents?

“Hey mom, UMass has a great rioting program!”

“Really?”

“Yea, take a look of this kid jumping off the DC!”

“Wow, he has great form! You’re right Mike. Let’s get you to UMass!”

With all the problems UMass is having, bad publicity is certainly not helping our cause. Budget cuts, forced retirements, increased tuition and increased populations, plus we’re (in)famous.

Get the press out of Southwest. If you see someone with a camera “reporting” what’s happening, get them out of there. If you see some loser with a notepad asking some girl how she feels about the riots, get him out of there.

We can’t stop people from saying there was a riot at UMass. We can’t stop “The Gazette” from reporting about a huge party on Phillips Street, but we can stop Fox, CBS and ABC from being at the riots interviewing people. Two hours before a game! It makes me sick.

UMass isn’t as bad as the newspapers and the news they want people to believe. You won’t find a riot on a Tuesday in February. They’re making it look like we do this all the time because they only cover UMass when they think it’s newsworthy. Our great programs like psychology and nursing aren’t newsworthy. However, our riots are.

Matt Elder is a Collegian columnist.