It was like any other night until the police cars circled the building and flashed their lights. At least, that's what three students involved in the rock-throwing incident at the AD claim.

According to the students, Dipanjan Banerjee '98 Samuel W. Brooks '00 and Connor P. Spreng '98, they were hanging out at the Club after celebrating the end of a long week of crew practice during their spring break.

They were intoxicated, and began tossing rocks off the roof of 1280 Mass. Ave, accessed from the roof of the AD Club. The students say they were acting without understanding the consequences.

When a police officer heard the sound of glass breaking and noticed the damage the falling rocks had done to two cars parked on the street below, the students found themselves in trouble.

The case of three students caught breakingCollege rules, sentenced to a year's suspension bythe College's disciplinary body, and deniedreconsideration by Dean of the College Harry R.Lewis '68 serves to highlight the studentquestions surrounding the Administrative Board,which handles all student disciplinary cases.

The lack of information about Ad Boardprocedures and rulings has led to studentcomplaints that the Board is not consistent in itspunishments or that it censures undergraduates tooharshly.

In this case, the three students claim the AdBoard may have gone beyond its stated guidelinesand sentenced the undergraduates not only fortheir offense, but also for their choice ofextracurricular activities and the location inwhich they were apprehended.

The students say they believe their positionsas Varsity rowers and the location of their run-inwith police--at a final club-- may have increasedthe severity of their punishment.

"I feel like the Ad Board looked at this andsaw 'athletes' and 'final club' and felt like theyhad to be severe for one reason or another,"Brooks said.

Night Incident

"[I] observed three males hurling very largerocks from the roof," reads the Harvard UniversityPolice Department [HUPD] report on the incident,recorded by Officer George White. "When the threeobserved my presence they crouched down behind thebrick facade, trying to conceal themselves."

The three students say they acknowledged theirresponsibility for the incident.

"It was incredibly stupid," Spreng says.

"We were never in danger of hitting people," hesays, asserting that the behavior was nothazardous to passers-by.

"If they had hit someone on the head and killedthem that would have turned the whole thingaround," says Harvard University Police Department(HUPD) spokesperson Peggy A. MacNamara.

According to MacNamara, the Cambridge policeofficers called to the scene likely turnedjurisdiction of the incident over to the HUPD, asis generally done in an incident involving Harvardstudents but off Harvard property.