State College has been rocked by three riots since 1998.

In an attempt to prevent such disturbances from reoccurring, the State College Borough Council and the university have proposed installing surveillance cameras along Beaver Avenue.

Many underclassmen at Penn State who weren't here when the riots occurred said placing cameras downtown would not prevent future unrest.

"Students act on emotions," Matt Ganter (freshman-accounting) said.

If people start to riot, the presence of a camera won't stop them, he said.

Ganter said he was unaware students had been expelled from the university after participating in the 2001 riot.

Other students who were attending Penn State during the March 2001 riot said placing cameras downtown would not be an effective way to curb crowd behavior.

"If it were a massive riot, it wouldn't deter anyone," Julie Kohley (sophomore-biology) said.

The riots have left a black spot on State College and the university, said Penn State spokesman Bill Mahon.

Mahon said he is reluctant to take his children downtown through the area between the 200 and 300 block of East Beaver Avenue, also known as Beaver Canyon.

"I wouldn't take the stroller down there with the baby in it," he said. "It just feels unsafe as a pedestrian."

Although minor incidents had already occurred along Beaver Avenue, the first real riot occurred the night of July 12, 1998, during the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts.

It began at about 1:30 a.m., when a party ball was dropped out of an apartment window. A group of people gathered in the street and kicked the ball around.

Then someone threw a trash can.

As word of the disturbance swept across town, the crowd on the 300 block of Beaver Avenue exploded from 150 to 1,500 people. Rioters threw beer bottles, dropped a keg from a high balcony and tore down 33 streetlights along Beaver Avenue. Multiple fires erupted as rioters fed couches, clothing, firecrackers, toilet paper and anything else that would burn into the flames.

At about 4 a.m., 125 local and state police equipped with riot gear and pepper spray began dispersing the crowd and making arrests.

Twenty people were arrested on charges ranging from failure to disperse to resisting arrest -- 11 were Penn State students. Sixteen police officers were injured in the riot and damage was estimated at $150,000.

The second Arts Fest riot occurred during the early morning hours of July 16, 2000.

At about 2:30 a.m., a crowd of 2,500 mostly intoxicated people descended on Beaver Canyon near Acme Pizza, a window pizza shop formerly located at 200 E. Beaver Ave.

The group began taunting police. Bottles and cups were thrown indiscriminately from balconies. Officers quickly donned riot gear when the group broke a large window in Cedarbrook Apartments, 320 E. Beaver Ave., and attempted to tear down signs and topple lampposts.

Police used pepper spray and batons to disperse the gathering. Fifteen people were arrested and an estimated $4,000 worth of damage occurred.

The most recent riot occurred March 25, 2001, following the men's basketball loss to Temple in the NCAA tournament.

An estimated 4,000 people gathered in Beaver Canyon shortly after midnight chanting, "We are Penn State," and, "Temple sucks." Police initially concentrated on keeping the crowd on the sidewalks, but the mass soon turned destructive, ripping down signs and throwing bottles at police.

At about 12:15 a.m., police officers equipped in riot gear dispersed the crowd and made 20 arrests.

Council and the university have proposed different measures to reduce the chance of a large crowd of people assembling in the "Canyon," the most controversial plan being the implementation of surveillance cameras.