"It was wall-to-wall people from the dining hall to the door," Dowling said. "It was a potentially dangerous situation. The popularity of the party brought more students than the officer could handle."

But Kotowski said that the incident was unremarkable and added that the crowd dispersed quickly after the extra officers arrived on the scene.

"The potential for a problem was diffused before anything actually happened," Kotowski said. "If it continued any further, there may have been the potential for students to be hurt."

An additional officer remained with the detail officer until the party ended at 1 a.m., Kotowski said.

"The extra officers helped to communicate to the crowd from back to the front," he said. "It wasn't a crowd that was unruly as much as uninformed."

One state trooper monitoring his radio responded to the incident, according to Kotowski. The state trooper parked his vehicle on Memorial Drive but did not enter the building after being told by HUPD that the situation was under control.

A few minutes before the detail officer called for back-up, the Leverett tutors on hand had called an ambulance for one student who was drunk, according to Dowling.

Emergency medical technicians were carrying the student on a stretcher as police arrived to quell the disturbance.

Dowling said there was no alcohol at the party and guessed the student had arrived drunk.

Despite the chaos, Dowling said HUPD reacted appropriately, and he termed the party a success.

"There was one student they were lifting over the crowd, but it was all in good fun," Dowling said. "I just wanted to tell people that they didn't need to push, we'd have another party next semester. Nobody was hurt. It all ended up fine."

And many students who were in the dining hall said in interviews that they were not even aware of what was happening outside.

"We might think of having the party somewhere bigger next semester," Perkins said