Luke Gatti has posted an apology on Youtube in response to the viral video of him profanely accosting a UConn employee over bacon-jalapeño mac and cheese. The video, which he titled “Drunk UConn Student Apology Mac and Cheese,” has already been viewed over 150,000 times and begins with Gatti apologizing to those that he mistreated–especially the manager he verbally and physically assaulted. Gatti said, “He was just doing his job. He gave me so many chances to walk away. And I didn’t listen to him. No one deserves to be treated that way, like ever.”

Watch Luke Gatti’s Apology Below

Gatti called the incident a “wake up call” and attempted to humble himself by also apologizing to the university student body and his friends and family. Unfortunately the apology came off very insincere and rehearsed, particularly when Gatti began to smirk when discussing all of the mac and cheese he’s been sent. Gatti said, “To all those who want to send donations of mac and cheese to me, please just send it to your local food pantry,” he said. “There’s a lot of hungry people out there.”

A GoFundMe.com page was also set up by UConn freshman Sadie Rumsey to thank the Union Street Market staff by treating them to a “nice night out.” The fundraiser has already doubled its goal, receiving over $2,000 in four days. People can still donate by clicking here.

According to the Hartford Courant, Gatti is scheduled to be arraigned in Superior Court in Rockville on Tuesday on charges of second-degree breach of peace and criminal trespass in connection with the incident, but his family has filed a continuance.

It’s also been reported that this isn’t his first run in with the law. Gatti was previously a student at the University of Massachusetts, where he was arrested twice last year on disorderly conduct charges. The Hartford Courant writes, “During one of those arrests, he was accused of using a racial slur against a police officer, court filings show.”

Based on this we are still in agreement that this kid sucks.

To check out the original story, click here.

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

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University of Connecticut student Luke Gatti really wanted some bacon-jalapeño mac and cheese. The problem is the Union Street Market he’d stumbled into wasn’t serving any–and he was wasted.

But instead of acting like most drunk people I know and settling for anything remotely edible, an enraged Gatti opted to instead verbally assault the cafeteria’s manager. After being refused service for having an open container of alcohol, the 19-year-old is seen profanely accosting the cafeteria’s manager for the missing mac in a now viral nine minute clip that surfaced Monday.

Watch the full nine minute clip below.

After arguing with the staff and fellow students for several minutes, Gatti then attempts to physically assault the cafeteria manager, resulting in both the manager and a fellow cafeteria employee wrestling him to the ground. The police then quickly arrived, arresting the drunk teen before escorting him out of the building. Gatti is still currently enrolled at UConn, but has reportedly already moved off campus.

The drunk Bacon Mac and Cheese Bro has officially left the UConn campus http://t.co/uRdWaWA0WO pic.twitter.com/S2e6gu2xY0

— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) October 7, 2015

But is this video funny or just sad? There have been a few different writers weighing in on the now-viral video. A writer from the Hartford Courant criticized the students standing around during the altercation saying,

A room full of able-bodied young adults are audience members; none of them steps up to help. They’re elbowing each other, taking pictures and smirking. I’m sure the incident didn’t make that great of a Snapchat.

To the contrary, I wouldn’t mind receiving that Snapchat. But to address this writer’s critique first lets point out that’s she isn’t exactly being truthful. I personally recount seeing at least three students attempt to calm down an escalating Gatti or lead him out of the cafeteria in the video. Secondly, what do you expect these students to do? The manager was attempting to handle the issue and the police had been called. If we’re going to blame anyone how about we blame the entitled underage drunk dude who thought being enrolled in college made it acceptable to assault university employees because he couldn’t get his mac and cheese fix.

But for Gatt’s sake I hope the mac and cheese really was so good that it was worth getting arrested over, because he can bet on this embarrassing video following him for life.

Editor’s Note: This story originally reported that Gatti had been expelled from UConn.The post has been updated to reflect that he is still enrolled at the University.

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

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As a native of Northeastern, Conn., and a huge UConn fan, I am ecstatic about the men’s and women’s championships this week! And because I’m from Conn., I have a ton of high school classmates who are at UConn now. So in addition to the requisite celebratory statuses on Facebook, I also saw some firsthand accounts of the celebrations that took place on the campus.

Indescribable. pic.twitter.com/VzyF0iae6B

— Alyssa Gardea (@alyssagardea22) April 8, 2014

That picture looks cool, right? A bunch of college students coming together to celebrate their university’s huge and thoroughly unexpected win! Well, unfortunately, the celebration wasn’t all fun and games. Instead, it devolved into a full blown riot. For example, here’s a video of a lamp post being destroyed and students yelling F*** Kentucky.

And here’s the aftermath in the Student Union.

The Union post game pic.twitter.com/quybQA5j8U

— The Daily Campus (@the_dailycampus) April 8, 2014

Fireworks were set off, cars were flipped, a light post was thrown through a window, and furniture was set on fire. By 1:30am, Conn. police had made 30 arrests.

So as crazy and ridiculous and unfathomable as that riot was, it made a bit of sense. UConn’s men’s team had just won the NCAAs, as a 7-seed, one of the lowest-seeded teams to ever win the tournament. The odds of victory were even lower given that UConn wasn’t allowed to participate in the tournament last year due to sanctions. So all that said and done, it makes some sense that UConn students got so excited. You go crazy when you win, not when you lose, right? I would think that the University of Kentucky would be sad and despondent and have called it a night early.

Well…wrong. Because Kentucky also rioted. And it looked somewhat similar to what happened at UConn, except a bit angrier.

Apparently the riot was a bit smaller than UConn’s, with many students crying and hugging. But there were over a dozen couch fires reported. And by 1:30am, there had been six arrests, which actually does make me wonder — are there are a lot of couches just lying around on UK’s campus? Or do people bring them outside? I don’t get it.

Anyway, with the exception of the UConn and UK gear present in the photos from each of the riots, it’s hard to tell them apart. There’s a disconnect for me here. Why riot both when you win and when you lose?

Part of it may be the culture of college basketball. At UK, they also rioted after pretty much every victory in the NCAA tournament, and more couches met a sad smokey demise. And it’s not like UConn and UK are unique, either. Riots after NCAA games, or other big events on college campuses, or even victories for cities (think Boston after the Red Sox won in 2004) are pretty commonplace.

I think part of it is also groupthink — it’s easy to get caught up in the crowd. And the truly damaging actions, like the light being destroyed, are only the actions of a few. Most people are just cheering and standing around.

But still, why do they riot, win or lose? Maybe I just can’t relate — although GW did make it to the NCAA tournament this year, it was our first time in a long time and we were out in the first round. The victories leading up to the tournament were celebrated, to be sure, but nothing like what happened on campuses this week. The only personal comparison I can even think of was when Obama won reelection in 2012, and hundreds of my peers and I ran to the White House. But even then, it was a crowd much more than a riot. And I can assure you, if we had tried to set a couch on fire we A) wouldn’t have been able to find one and B) would have incurred the wrath of Secret Service.

I think the easiest answer is that riots occur because it’s easy to get caught up in the moment. Whether you win or lose, you were just part of something bigger than yourself. Mass joy and mass disappointment aren’t really all that different, because at the end of the day, you’ve shared that emotion with everyone else in the crowd.

But the reality is ridiculous. A mix of those intense group emotions and alcohol and whatever else leads to the kind of depravity we see on UK and UConn’s campuses last night. It’s insane, it’s dangerous, and in some way it takes away from the great parts of the game. So next time your team wins, or loses, remember to act with dignity. And don’t take out your emotions on an innocent couch.

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

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Lately, we’ve been hearing more and more about the mishandling of sexual assaults on college campuses. Although these allegations span years, sexual assault on college campuses is by no means a new conversation. The recent wave of outrage and advocacy began with a courageous young woman named Angie Epifano. Angie was a student at Amherst College in Massachusetts when she was raped by an acquaintance. She received little to no help from the University, and eventually published a first hand account in The Amherst Student, the student newspaper on campus. Her entire, heart-wrenching story is here (trigger warning), but the gist is that the school that she trusted institutionalized, discounted, and questioned her every move instead of providing her with appropriate and much needed resources.

The University of Connecticut, located in the sleepy northeastern countryside, has also come under fire for how they have handled sexual assault cases. Victims claim that UConn didn’t help them, and that they were discouraged from reporting the rapes to the police. One young woman, Rosemary Richie, who was raped by a football player, claims officials at UConn did not believe her.

There are stories after stories after stories on almost every single college campus in the country. Take Amanda Tripp, at the University of Indianapolis. She filed a report that she was raped on November 26, 2012. When she saw a copy almost 2 months later, the police had written, “a crime did not occur” on it. No one ever followed up with her. Or how about Landen Gambill? She reported being sexually assaulted by an ex-boyfriend. The UNC honor court subsequently found him not guilty. She was then charged herself, accused of creating an “intimidating and hostile” environment for the man who had assaulted her by charging him with such assault. Regardless of whether or not he was actually guilty, a young woman should never be scared that she might get in trouble with the school if she reports a crime.

The numbers speak for themselves: at least 1 in 4 women in college will be the victim of a sexual assault during their time in school. Colleges need to be able to provide resources for that 25% of their female population that is attacked. But as we’ve seen time after time after time, this often is not the case.

Now, these women are fighting back. The Title IX Network —an informal network of activists–has helped women at multiple schools file federal claims against the universities. The Title IX Network bills itself as “working to support all survivors, to change how colleges and universities handle sexual assault, and to change a culture where violence is normalized.” Most recently these include Amherst, UConn, and Vanderbilt University; earlier this year claims were filed against UNC, Occidental, Swarthmore, UC Boulder, Dartmouth, USC, Berkeley, and Emerson.

The complaints have been filed under both Title IX and Clery Act provisions. Title IX states that universities have a responsibility to take immediate and effective steps when allegations of sexual violence are brought forth. Under Title IX, the Department of Education can impose fines or block access to federal funds. The Clery Act requires schools to accurately disclose crimes that occur on campus. By not handling and reporting these allegations of sexual assault properly, the universities against whom complaints have been levied may be in violation.

Something has to change. Twenty-five percent of young women, twenty-five percent of my peers, should not be assaulted in the environments in which they are supposed to learn and grow. If these charges lead to any sort of change in the abhorrent way universities have been handling this issue, I say more power to the Title IX network.

—

Anneliese Mahoney (@AMahoney8672) is Lead Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

Featured image courtesy of [Wolfram Burner via Flickr]

Anneliese Mahoney

Anneliese Mahoney is Managing Editor at Law Street and a Connecticut transplant to Washington D.C. She has a Bachelor’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University, and a passion for law, politics, and social issues. Contact Anneliese at amahoney@LawStreetMedia.com.

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