The majority of the events are categorized as seemingly peaceful by many students, stating that they consist mainly of students standing around, chanting and singing. There is also still debate among UMass students as to whether or not the term “riot” applies to a lot of the occurrences since they seldom involve violence or aggressive behavior from the vast majority of students present. Nevertheless, each event is met with police interference due to a fear of the unsafe environments that large unattended crowds could create. In the past there has been friction between members of the student body and the UMass Police Department around their methods of crowd control; students have been displeased with what they see as unnecessary force.