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.

"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."