Words cannot describe what I saw Friday night. At first there was an overwhelming feeling of awe and even pride. Here we were, thousands of very different students, many of whom did not know each other, all gathered in one place screaming, "We are ... Penn State." The crowd was massive, a bit loud, a bit unruly and obnoxious, but we were not, by any stretch, menacing or threatening to others or ourselves. It is a First Amendment right to assemble where we so choose. The only thing we were disturbing on Friday night was maybe some traffic patterns, as cars slowly cruised down Beaver Avenue in a single lane.

I can understand that the police were there to keep the peace and to ensure public safety, which is why I don't have any qualms with them aimlessly spraying pepper spray into the air to back the crowd up.

However, there is a difference between appropriate actions and an abuse of power. When a cluster of seven to eight students are standing in the door of their apartment building and they get sprayed directly in the face by two officers standing no more than two feet away, my stomach ties in knots. When police make their way through apartment building hallways, spraying people directly in the face, I am completely nauseated.

The police's disgusting display of force this weekend disturbed and disappointed me beyond belief. There was no problem, no threat to public safety until after the cops started spraying. I know bottles were thrown from balconies and fireworks were set off, but that all came well after the spraying. The people I felt most threatened by were none other than those who were there to "keep the peace."