Hundreds of students packed the Eden Prairie High School cafeteria Thursday morning, some banging red plastic cups and chanting, "Walkout, walkout," in protest of disciplinary action taken against students who appeared to be drinking in photos posted on the Internet.
Junior Nick Laurent, who organized the event on the very website where those compromising pictures originated -- Facebook -- said about 20 students walked out around 9:30 a.m. despite warnings that they faced detention or suspension.
"This has made an impression," Laurent said of the rally and walkout. "We shook the school today."
That defiance could also leave an impression elsewhere -- on their school records.
District spokeswoman Camie Melton Hanily said the protesters who walked out face four to six days of after-school detention, one day of in-school suspension or revocation of their privileges to leave campus.
School staff counted 15 students who left without permission, Hanily said. Others who left had permission to attend off-site programs.
The penalties will depend on whether students were positively identified leaving the school and their past disciplinary records.
Two Eden Prairie police officers, three school security officers, four school deans and Principal Conn McCartan stood near exits but did not stop anyone from leaving, Laurent said. He passed out fliers Wednesday morning promoting the walkout and handed out red cups Thursday as a symbolic representation of the cups some students held in Facebook photos.