NIU students smashed windows at six fraternity houses and pelted cars and passer-bys with snow during a Monday night flurry of campus-area snowball fights.

Although throwing a few snowballs might seem like harmless winter fun, the fights can cause problems. The Delta Upsilon fraternity house, 1114 Blackhawk Road, was hit hardest. Snowball fighters broke eight windows at the house and damage totaled $600, police said.

“The majority of people go out and throw a few snowballs, but a few throw ice balls or snowballs with rocks in them. In the past, we have had numerous arrests involving snowballs and criminal damage to motor vehicles,” said University Police Lt. Kathy Guimond.

Snowballs broke seven windows at the Alpha Kappa Lambda fraternity house, 919 Greenbrier Road, and the damage totaled $480, police said.

“There was an unusual amount of windows broken Monday night,” said DeKalb Police Sgt. Ron Pearson.

The snowball fights weren’t confined to the Greek Row area. UPs received at least 11 calls of snowball fights on campus. One caller reported that 100 to 200 people were lobbing snowballs, UP reports state.

Another caller told police that between 500 and 1,000 people were throwing snowballs, jumping on and throwing snow at passing cars in a fight between Stevenson and Grant Towers residence halls.

“Generally it seems people like to unwind during the first snow by going out and throwing snowballs. But they can get a little carried away and start throwing snowballs at vehicles and pedestrians,” Guimond said.

Other fraternity houses hit include Sigma Phi Epsilon, Sigma Pi, Phi Sigma Kappa and Sigma Nu.