NYT19980427.0502 NEWS NEWSWIRE The police defended themselves Monday against accusations that they overreacted early Sunday morning when the annual spring weekend at the University of Connecticut in Storrs turned violent after three days of parties. The university said Monday that more than 80 people were arrested, and thousands of dollars in damage to university property resulted from the melee. The campus and state police said they had been pelted by rocks and bottles for two nights and did not approach any students until some had set fire to a car early Sunday morning. Gov. John Rowland, meanwhile, called the students' actions a black eye for the university. But some students complained Monday that the police had overreacted by bringing in about 100 officers and using dogs and pepper spray to control the partying. Most of the arrests occurred late Saturday night and early Sunday morning, after a party at a house off campus spilled onto a nearby parking lot, adjacent to another parking lot where the police were watching. The state police said that someone set a couch on fire in the parking lot, and that several people overturned a car onto the couch. Stacey Trippel, 21, a senior from Redding, said that she was playing cards in her dormitory and went briefly to the parking lot to visit the party. She said she did not stay long, after seeing people throwing bottles and swearing at the police. ``It was really kind of creepy with all the police standing in one line and the students in another line,'' she said. Lou Mangini, vice president of the undergraduate student government, said that some students, including two student senators, were injured as the police tried to regain control. ``One was hit with a club and another was sprayed with pepper spray,'' he said. ``These are not people out to cause a riot.'' After problems during last year's spring weekend, when dozens of people were arrested at an off-campus party, university officials tried this year to attract students to more controlled parties on campus by having bands and serving beer only to students over 21 years old. They also made sure that the campus and state police were a presence. But early campus events attracted few people, and problems off campus on Friday night led university administrators to cancel the official Saturday event. Chief Robert Hudd of the university police said Monday that the university had set rules this year for spring weekend, ``but some of the rules people didn't want to live by.'' He added, ``There was sort of a rebellious attitude.'' At least 88 people were arrested from Thursday to Sunday on charges including inciting a riot, breach of peace and assaulting a police officer, Hudd said. The university estimated that about 35 were students. The Storrs campus has 12,000 undergraduates. Rowland said he would ask the school to punish the students involved in the disturbances. ``It's unfortunate that a small group of students have wreaked this kind of havoc,'' Rowland said. ``I do hope they will punish these students to the fullest extent possible. We need to send a message.''