Club goer Arrested At HBS Event

An altercation outside of a Boston nightclub hosting a party for Harvard Business School students resulted in an arrest for assault and battery on a police officer last Friday, according to a city police report.

Boston Police said that staff from the  Tequila Rain club approached police at 11:24 pm after two people—one male and one female—attempted to gain reentry after being removed from the club. The male suspect grabbed a police officer by the neck as he was being escorted away from the club, according to the police report.

The report also said that the female suspect, claiming to be a citizen of Lebanon, accused police of racism and attempted to take photographs of the altercation, saying “This is going to get us a lot of money.”

Police declined to release the suspects’ names. A representative for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office said the names could not be obtained after courts closed.

The incident occurred during the “Priscilla Ball,” an annual event hosted by the HBS Australian and New Zealand Club, where male students typically dress in drag. About 680 HBS students attended the ball last Friday.Jon Schoeck, general manager of Tequila Rain, said that several students attending the party had already been asked to leave the club or had been denied entry because they were heavily intoxicated.

In an e-mail to MBA students, MBA Program Chair Joseph L. Badaracco, Jr. said that “disciplinary action may follow” for those students involved.Badaracco added that the incident last Friday was out of character for HBS students.

“We set the bar high for our life and work at HBS, and our students, staff, and faculty work hard to clear it,” Badaracco said. “Such incidents also reflect poorly on all of us and create negative ripple effects that last a good while.”

Badaracco’s e-mail also said the incident “resulted in injuries to students.” But Schoeck said he was aware of only one male student who badly cut his foot after removing his high heels.Schoeck described Friday’s crowd as one of the “top five” worst behaved he has experienced in his career as a bar manager. According to Schoeck, “only 40 or 50” of attendees were rowdy.

“For the most prestigious university in America, they should be embarrassed at the way they handled themselves,” he said.

Both the HBS Australian and New Zealand Club and an HBS spokesman declined to comment.

—Staff writer William N. White can be reached at wwhite@fas.harvard.edu.