Rugby team blamed for near riot at 'I'm Shmacked' event

• The %27I%27m Shmacked%27 series of college videos first appeared 2 years ago
• Its Fall 2013 Tour has 17 stops in August and September%3B Delaware was not one of them
• The crew has more than 75K Twitter followers%2C 85K likes on Facebook

NEWARK, Del. — The University of Delaware rugby team is appealing a five-year suspension that some describe as the "death penalty" and unfair punishment after a film crew from I'm Shmacked came here and thousands mobbed the streets.

The university's Office of Student Conduct has prohibited the more than 70-member team from operating. In a City Council meeting Monday, a university official described that suspension as part of the fallout from the Sept. 9 incident that police described as a near riot.

Thousands of young adults spilled onto the streets at around 11:30 that night after a party that started in a student rental unit. I'm Shmacked had announced on Twitter that its crews would be there to make the university a part of its YouTube videos on college night life.

Two of the men that Newark Police charged in connection with the incident were rugby team members who lived in the house. Another man charged was from the film crew that hosts I'm Shmacked events on college campuses.

The 41-year club sport, which is known for fielding a competitive team, can't play during the suspension. The team is appealing the decision, saying the unsanctioned actions of a few team members will hurt people who were not involved.

"It would set us back to the Stone Age," said Ian Combs, president of the club and a senior marine biology major. "It is basically the death penalty."

Combs said the role of the I'm Shmacked film crew should be investigated.

The group came into town, extracted footage for a wild video, and then drove away — leaving students and the community to "pick up the pieces," he said. I'm Shmacked had not posted its University of Delaware video as of Thursday.

Police said several thousand people were so out of control that Newark Police requested assistance from 75 officers from the university, New Castle County and Delaware State Police. "Shmacked" is slang for being so drunk or high that a person can't stand — or speak correctly.

Lawyers from the city and university said they are considering their legal options against I'm Shmacked. The business' representatives have said in previous interviews that the company did not intend to incite criminal behavior.

Details that went into the university's decision to suspend the rugby club until the spring 2018 were not made public. A university statement issued Wednesday did not comment specifically on the rugby club or release any documents associated with the case.

In its appeal, the rugby team's president said the club "does not encourage or support the type of behavior and actions" associated with the thousands of students who swarmed city streets.

So far, five people have been charged. The investigation continues, police said, and more charges could be filed.

The house where police say the night's events started is known informally as the rugby house to some students. The team does not own the house, and some of the people who live there are not team members, Combs said. The university's student newspaper, The Review, called it a "men's club rugby party," in a Sept. 10 story about the incident.

The club's leadership twice informed members it was not endorsing or sponsoring the party that night, Combs said. It was not a club-run event, and the entire club should not be held responsible for it.

"Our reason for this communication was not — as the Office of Student Conduct Administrative Hearing Summary Report implies — so that the Rugby Club could have a party without being held responsible, but because it was not a Rugby Club event," the rugby club appeal reads. "Having been informed of the event — not asked permission — as the club president, I did everything in my power to make sure the rugby team was not involved."

Another club member described the party on Twitter as a rugby party, something the team's appeal said the university used as evidence against the team.

Social media, and the use of phones to capture photos and video, played heavily into the planning for the event and the response to it. The I'm Shmacked tour bus promoted its appearance on social media, encouraging students to show up. Then students and some event organizers pumped out public photos, statements and video.

The stop was not promoted on the group's Facebook page, which lists six universities in Washington for Sept. 7 on its Fall 2013 tour and three Sept. 10 in Boston. Film crews are scheduled to stop Thursday at the University of Cincinnati, Friday at Ohio State in Columbus and Saturday at the University of Louisville in Kentucky. I'm Shmacked joined YouTube on July 11, 2011 and launched its Facebook page Oct. 21, 2011.

Jeffrie "Yofray" Ray, who took leave from the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, and Arya Toufanian, a junior last year at Georgetown University, are the partners behind I'm Shmacked, according to a New York Times profile last year.

In the days that followed the Newark stop, police used the crowd's footage and photos to assist in identifying people to question and charge with crimes.

The rugby team is a club sport which does not operate with the same rules, or institutional financing, as varsity sports such as football. For instance, the rugby club hires its coach and the NCAA does not govern its conduct. The team is subject to the same rules as more than 280 clubs on campus, and that includes suspensions for violations of student conduct.

Contributing: Terri Sanginiti, The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal

imshmacked posted this photo to its Instagram account the night it filmed near the University of Delaware in Newark, Del., tweeting the link to its followers as "Project UD."