Flash mob takes over ODU library

NORFOLK, Va. - Using social media, Old Dominion University students in Norfolk pulled off an impressive flash mob on campus Thursday night.

The ODU administration knew it was happening and so did ODU Police.

If you've never heard of a flash mob, it is defined as "a large group of people who converge on a spot suddenly at a specific time, perform some action, and disperse quickly." That's exactly what happened at the ODU library at 10:30 p.m.

School spokesperson Jennifer Mullen told WAVY.com 600 students showed up. Because the school is in finals, Perry Library was open late.

Junior Chad Harris was there. "People were showing up, and they kept coming," he told WAVY.com.

ODU police, which followed the crowd from a nearby garage, into the library. Assistant Police Chief Paul Midgett said, "the understanding was this was a peaceful crowd. We monitored it. In hindsight, we could have stopped them at the front door, but that would pose other problems too."

Jennifer Revis was in the library studying and watched it all unfold, "it was all positive until the pepper spray."  Once the crowd surfing started, police were concerned people could get hurt. Five ODU police officers tried to yell the crowd out of the library, but five couldn't out yell hundreds. The decision was made to bring out the pepper spray and officers were caught on tape spraying it.

Chad Harris was right there, "I heard people coughing; it was burning my nose and was burning my eyes. People were yelling and screaming and running out of the library."

Surveillance video did not capture video of the event, but students did - and several of them posted it on YouTube. Click on the video player on this page to see it for yourself.

The school does not know who organized the flash mob, but they do know how it was advertised. WAVY.com spoke with Dr. Liza Potts, an ODU professor who teaches classes in a subject called digital culture.

"They're using technology to do different things to meet in person again," said Potts.

WAVY.com asked Potts what her first reaction was when she realized what was happening. "Was there a Facebook page that people used, how did they arrange this? What's going on?,"" thought Potts.

Potts was right. A quick look at the Facebook page dedicated soley to the ODU flash mob event, told  the story. The Facebook page gathered members quickly, in fact as of 4pm Friday, it had more than 1,400 members.

"Fun, fun .. just to do something different," said Potts.

The only damage the school is reporting, was to a SKU detector in the library.

On the web:
Facebook Fan Page
YouTube video shows before and during event
YouTube video of flash mob
Old Dominion University Website