By Heather Kamins
and Peter Romer-Friedman
Daily Staff Reporters
University President Lee Bollinger sat on his bed watching the Michigan-Penn State game with his wife Saturday night when more than 1,000 University students hurdled his bushes, climbed the trees, crammed onto his lawn and began screaming his name.
As the crowd mounted the steps of the white house shouting "we want Lee," Bollinger emerged and invited the students in - making the President's house the home of the largest post-game party on campus.
"You can stay here as long as you want and come inside," Bollinger said, hugging and embracing students in celebration of the Michigan victory.
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| MARGARET MYERS/Daily Students surround University President Lee Bollinger at a wild, but brief, post-game celebration. Bollinger invited more than 1,000 people into his home on South University after a group of students gathered on his lawn. "This is the best university in the world," Bollinger said. |
Kinesiology sophomore Bob Lehrer made himself at home in Bollinger's bedroom.
"I sat on Lee Bollinger's bed and was watching football on TV," Lehrer said. "I called from his phone to my answering machine and left a message. He gave me a hug and on the way out he said he loved us all."
Bollinger, who had watched the frenzied students sprint down South University toward the house, said he was concerned that the celebration would mirror the recent riots at Michigan State University after the Spartans defeated Western Michigan.
"I didn't know what the crowd was like," Bollinger said. "I was worried about that, but it all turned out all right. It was wonderful."
Students said they did not want to cause violence or destruction - they simply wanted to party with the president and celebrate the victory peacefully.
"He's a great guy," said LSA sophomore Jason Ragnick. "He let us party in his house. We're not making violence. We're partying with the president."
The students then ran to the quietest place on campus, the Law Library, shouting and chanting "The Victors" while tuba players followed closely behind.
The Ann Arbor Police Department and the Department of Public Safety said there were no arrests made last night.
Although students blocked the roads for about an hour, the motorists were not disturbed by the inconvenience of having to turn away from campus.
"We'll have to take a detour," said Music senior James Kerr, as he tried to navigate down South University. "It's not a problem, though, considering the occasion."
Bollinger said nothing in the house was stolen or broken. A number of students, however, claimed to have stolen bottles of beer from the refrigerator.
"You don't steal from the president, you buy beer for the president," Lehrer said.
History Prof. Nicholas Steneck, who teaches a class about University history, said the president's house has not welcomed the entire student body since Harlan Hatcher served as University president.
"It is not something that is regularly done," he said. "Usually, just specific students are invited in for specific reasons."
Steneck said students rallied on the front lawn during Robben Fleming's reign in the 1960s.
"They would frequently assemble on the lawn to get him to come out and talk," Steneck said, adding that the students were protesting the Vietnam War or fighting for student power and environmental causes. "I do not think partying with the president was what the students wanted to talk to Fleming about in the '60s."
Students said they wanted to leave the house the way they found it, both in reverence for Bollinger and respect for the University. LSA first-year student Jack Wolbert spilled a glass on an end table in the house and then used his shirt tail to mop it up. "This is really a nice house and nobody's messing it up," he said.
As the students voluntarily ushered themselves out of the house, Jean Magnano Bollinger, the president's wife, told the students to be careful through the night.
"It's wonderful, but I don't know if we're equipped to do it every week," Magnano Bollinger said. "After the Ohio State game, we all might want to find somewhere else to go."
LSA sophomore Andrew Schreiber said the mix of genuine excitement and his pre-game partying created a memorable night for him.
"I puked with the president," Schreiber said. "I puked on the house. I feel so much better with the president now that I puked."
Art School junior Genna Soloman added: "This is a night that will go down in the books as the most incredible night in football history."
11-10-97
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