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UMass aims to curb drunken partying

AMHERST, Mass., Feb. 21 (UPI) -- The University of Massachusetts is trying to curb the drunken and sometimes violent partying that has become a tradition at its flagship campus in Amherst.

In the past three weeks, two students have been charged with attempted murder after incidents of violence, The Boston Globe reported. An off-campus party ended with lacrosse players allegedly attacking others with lacrosse sticks, baseball bats and bottles.

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"We need to shift away from looking at each individual incident, and toward looking at this as a cultural problem," said Marianne Winters, director of the campus women's center. "There's this anticipation, almost an expectation, on campus that violence is a possibility."

Some administrators and many students say some violence can be expected at a school with 19,000 undergraduates and 12,000 people living on campus.

"It's a huge school and kind of like its own city," said freshman Nicholas Leoutsakos. "I'm not surprised if there are jackasses who want to hurt other people."

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