Students Deploy Riot-Ready Social Media

At least 10 riots have rocked colleges in recent months, resulting in hundreds of arrests and dozens of injuries amid a growing sense that social media are helping to fuel misbehavior at student mass gatherings.

Interviews with several police chiefs suggest that the use of Twitter by students as a way to organize, assemble and re-assemble has accelerated the speed and size with which crowds gather. The popularity of the "selfie" is evident, too, bringing into play a new level of voyeurism among students who want to get a photograph of themselves inside the melee even if they don't really want to take part in it. "It used to take a lot more work to generate a gathering," said Gary Margolis, who manages the National Center for Campus Public Safety. "Now one tweet and you've just reached 40 people. Everyone has their own mass communications device in their pocket."