The Boulder community is standing in firm opposition to Saturday night’s massive party at the University of Colorado at Boulder, which resulted in extensive property damage and injury to three police officers.

Numerous city officials, CU students and staff spoke out Sunday against the actions of the several hundreds of CU students who hosted and attended the party-turned-riot at 10th Street and College Avenue on University Hill.

Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty called the incident “selfish” and “outrageous” in a statement Sunday morning.

“Our community was put at risk last night by the individuals involved in the incident in the Hill area,” Dougherty said. “Their callous disregard for our community’s safety and well-being is shameful.”

The Boulder Police Department said around 800 people were at the party at its height between 7 and 8 p.m. Throughout the night, attendees smashed the windows of several vehicles and tipped one on its side.

Photos of the event also show party-goers setting off fireworks in the street and walking away with street signs pulled out of the ground.

Of the hundreds of attendees, very few were seen wearing face masks and there was no social distancing despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

“There is no excuse for this conduct, especially while the people of this community endure the pandemic,” Dougherty said.

In November, CU Boulder was the site of the state’s largest COVID-19 outbreak at the time, with 1,400 students and staff testing positive for the virus. Since then, cases connected to CU have grown to more than 3,000, according to state data.

While COVID-19 rates have slowed down in the city since November, wastewater data shows cases have been sharply increasing over the last two weeks.

“The public health stakes with this type of gathering are high and potentially dire,” said city spokesperson Sarah Huntley. “A gathering of this size, even absent of the pandemic, would not be permitted within a residential neighborhood.”

Huntley said the city is asking everyone who attended the party or has been in contact with party-goers to quarantine for 10 days and monitor for COVID-19 symptoms for 14 days.

Despite the risk caused by such a large gathering, the university said it will continue to hold in-person classes this week and is just asking students who were at the party to refrain from attending.

Students who attended the party will also not face disciplinary action for quarantining or getting tested/monitored for COVID-19 through the university as health officials will not release information about how students got exposed.

However, CU Chief Operating Officer Patrick O’Rourke said the university is working to track down students who participated using other means, calling Saturday’s event “unacceptable on every level.”

“A basic and nonnegotiable condition for being part of CU Boulder is accountability to each other and to the community,” O’Rourke said. “We have stated in very clear terms that students must comply with community-safety standards and public health orders during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

O’Rourke strongly condemned the party-goers who turned violent when confronted by police, in addition to violating health protocols.

Officers who first responded to the party were charged by a group of around 100 people and forced to retreat, BPD said. While responding, police were also hit with bottles and rocks, causing three officers to be injured. No civilians were injured.

O’Rourke said students who participated in violence, participated in property destruction or refused to disperse when ordered by officers will be subject to disciplinary action, including being removed from CU Boulder without the possibility of readmission.

“If they can’t meet our expectations, they are not welcome at the university,” O’Rourke said.

Huntley said civil and criminal sanctions from the city and county of Boulder will also be taken against the rioters. Officials are pursuing the legal, economic and academic consequences, she said.

However, those who simply attended the party are not off the hook. O’Rourke said the university is focused on identifying the violent offenders and the hosts of the party but afterward, attendees will be tracked down and disciplined.

Saturday’s party is the latest in an ongoing series of super-spreader events hosted by CU students since the COVID-19 pandemic hit Colorado one year ago. Parties with over 100 attendees were reported in March, May, August and September 2020.

While hundreds of students attend these events, other members of the student body are speaking out against the actions of their peers.

“They showed a reckless, selfish disregard for community and safety, especially during the pandemic,” said CU student Isabella Fincher. “Their destructive, violent behavior was inexcusable and horrifying.”

CU Student Body President Isaiah Chavous said he was “deeply disappointed” by the actions of the participating CU students.

“As a leader of the student body at large, it saddens me to see my fellow students misrepresent the true spirit and culture of CU,” Chavous said. “Rioting is not reflective of our student values, and those who participated in destructive acts will surely see the consequences.”

However, other students argue that the behavior displayed by students Saturday is perfectly reflective of the CU culture.

“Anyone who has lived in Boulder or gone to CU Boulder knows this is what it is like,” said CU student Rob Tann. “Wealthy, self-entitled brats who only care about themselves and are willing to party for clout, even if it costs other people their lives.”

Tann said the university’s follow-through on discipline will show whether or not it condones such activities.

“What needs to happen now is for CU Boulder to step up and hold these students accountable through expulsions,” Tann said. “We have come too close to ending this pandemic and too many people have suffered from it for students to be engaging in such reckless activity.”

As of Sunday, no expulsions or suspensions have been announced and, according to BPD, there have also been no arrests in connection to the party.

However, police said at least one person was arrested prior to the height of the incident for dancing on top of an Amazon delivery truck.

CU student Taylor Turbyne is also advocating for the expulsion of the students who attended the party, even going as far as to create a petition demanding the expulsions.

“To think that 2 million people around the world have died from this plague and CU students are throwing mass gatherings all so they can get drunk together,” Turbyne said. “We will never leave this pandemic as long as we have privileged college kids endangering the lives of all.”

Turbyne said she was “sickened” by the students’ actions and the university’s response, including sending university-wide alerts over text and email warning students that the party was going to be shut down.

“Where are the repercussions when you give people a heads-up that the police are on their way?” she said. “This allows people to get away from a cesspool of COVID without any repercussions, which allows them to do it again.”

Huntley defended the use of the emergency notifications during a press conference Sunday, saying they helped convince students to leave the party and prevent others from joining when police presence wasn’t working.

BPD said officers had responded to and broken up several smaller parties throughout Saturday afternoon without incident by the time they were called to 10th Street and College Avenue at 5 p.m.

Officers attempted to break up large groups standing in the street without any success. By 5:40 p.m., police said there were hundreds of partiers inside homes, standing on rooftops and flooding the residential street. At 5:48 p.m., officers called the SWAT team.

It took nearly four hours for SWAT to disperse the crowd, during which it deployed two canisters of tear gas in response to partiers throwing bottles and rocks. Despite rumors, police said no rubber bullets were used.

In addition to multiple residential vehicles that were damaged, the rioters also caused thousands of dollars worth of damage to a SWAT vehicle and fire truck, BPD said.

BPD said it is working to review social media posts and body camera footage from the responding officers to identify those who damaged property and attacked first responders.

“Detectives will review every lead we have to identify and arrest those responsible for this reprehensible and unacceptable behavior,” BPD Chief Maris Herold said Sunday.

University officials also said there will be increased patrols on the University Hill from BPD and the CU Police Department in coming days and weeks.

Officials are particularly worried about more large events with St. Patrick’s Day and spring break approaching.

O’Rourke said the university is meeting with the city of Boulder, Boulder County Public Health and BPD to review Saturday’s incident and make changes to how they will respond to potential future events.

Anyone with information about Saturday’s disturbance can submit tips to BPD detectives at bouldercopd.evidence.com/axon/citizen/public/hill-disturbance.