Wording not preserved
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UW-Madison
Students crushed against a field fence after a football game; 69 injured, all survived
AI-generated · every claim is source-linkedConfirmed Threat
On October 30, 1993, after Wisconsin beat Michigan 13-10 in Camp Randall Stadium, students rushed the field and were trapped against a chain-link fence at the field's edge, crushing 69 people in a bottlenecked stampede, including 10 who were rendered unconscious and pulseless. Paramedics from across Dane County responded, and all 69 injured were treated at area hospitals; no one died. The incident became a landmark case for stadium safety design, leading UW-Madison to add aisles to the student section and remove the field-level fence.
- Alerts
- 3
- Response
- 5 min
- Killed
- 0
- Injured
- 69
~41,000 studentsNone (pre-mass-notification era; PA system only)
Official alert policy
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Documented Timeline
Alert Sequence
3 messages in sequence · 1 verified verbatim
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Verified verbatim83 chars
We have a pulseless non-breather at the north end of the field. This is not a joke.
Verify this quote
Contemporaneous wire coverage ('You couldn't breathe:' Crowd surge injures scores at stadium), republished by Big 10 Centralbig10central.comfind archived copiesPer contemporaneous reporting, this public-address announcement 'seemed to stop everyone cold': dozens of people in Section O began walking back up into the upper stands, relieving pressure at the fence
The Camp Randall crush brought paramedics from throughout Dane County; the University of Wisconsin and Madison General Hospital treated the most seriously injured
Ten of the 69 injured were found pulseless and not breathing when EMS arrived; paramedics performed CPR and resuscitated all 10
The student section at the time had 70 unbroken rows of general-admission seating without a single aisle, meaning the entire student section compressed toward the fence simultaneously
Wording not preserved
This message is documented at this point in the sequence, but its exact wording is not preserved in the public record. The public edition displays only confirmed alert text.
Context
Background
The 1993 Camp Randall Stadium crush is a significant crowd-safety incident in US college athletics, notable because it happened without any structural failure: a fence, a crowd, and a design that left no escape route. On October 30, 1993, Wisconsin defeated Michigan 13-10 in Camp Randall Stadium, the first Badger win over Michigan since 1981. When the final whistle blew, the UW student section surged toward the field. The student section at the time consisted of 70 unbroken rows of general-admission seating without a single aisle, sloping downhill to a chain-link fence at the field perimeter. Students in the upper rows pushed forward while those at the bottom were already pinned against the fence; the section compressed from 70 rows into approximately 40 in seconds. Sixty-nine people were crushed or trampled; ten were found pulseless and not breathing. Paramedics from across Dane County converged on Camp Randall and resuscitated all ten cardiac arrests on-site. Seven people remained hospitalized in intensive care that evening with neurological and orthopedic injuries; none of the 69 injured died. In the aftermath, courts found UW-Madison and security contractor Per Mar Security Services liable for the crush, and the university redesigned the stadium: aisles were added to the student section and the field-level chain-link fence was removed. The 1993 Camp Randall crush has been cited in stadium crowd-management research and influenced general-admission seating policies at college venues. It remains a frequently cited example of how stadium design, absent any external threat, can contribute to a mass-casualty crowd incident.
Analysis
Key Findings
Sixty-nine people were injured when UW-Madison students surged toward the field after the final whistle of a 13-10 win over Michigan on October 30, 1993
Ten students were found pulseless and not breathing when EMS arrived; all ten were resuscitated on-site with no fatalities
The student section's design (70 rows of general-admission seating without a single aisle, sloping downhill to a chain-link fence) created the bottleneck
In 1993 UW-Madison had no SMS or digital mass-notification system; PA announcements were the only real-time alert tool available
Courts found UW-Madison and Per Mar Security Services liable; Camp Randall was redesigned with aisles and the field fence was removed
Outcome
69 people injured, with 10 found unconscious and pulseless; all survived after emergency treatment. Courts found UW-Madison and security contractor Per Mar Security Services liable. Camp Randall was redesigned with aisles in the student section and the field-level chain-link fence was removed. The university and its security contractor faced numerous lawsuits from injured fans.
Provenance
Sources
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Cite this case
Campus Alert Archive. "University of Wisconsin-Madison: Students crushed against a field fence after a football game; 69 injured, all survived." Incident of October 30, 1993. Added May 2026; last updated June 2026. https://campusalertarchive.com/case/university-of-wisconsin-madison-camp-randall-crush-1993-10-30/
Alert text quoted on this page remains the work of the issuing institution; the archive is a secondary source.
Tags
crowd-crushfield-stormingstadium-safetymass-casualtypre-modern-alertinglandmark-casewisconsinpublic-r1historicalfootballstadium-design
Added May 2026Updated June 2026Via ingestion