At Michigan State, Yet Another Riot…

Police used a total of 64 nonlethal grenades (smoke, flash-bang and stingball) and 13 rounds of tear gas to contain the crowd of more than 3,000.

The East Lansing Police Department has already formally declared Saturday nights’ event a riot.  The story is on the home page of CNN (see article here).  Michigan State has suffered yet another black eye, although I’m not certain whether this one should fall on the shoulders of the students or the East Lansing police department.

This will only serve to drive more of a wedge between the city of East Lansing and the students of Michigan State.  It will probably draw more support for the East Village redevelopment project being planned for the Cedar Village area.  This project is expected to create more expensive housing in the area, possibly outside of students budgets, and thereby displacing them from the area.  East Lansing mayor Vic Loomis has said that he will seek monetary compensation for damages from those who where arrested in the event.  Stiff words from a man whose city’s economy depends on the university next door.

From various comments I’ve read around the web about Cedar Fest, it seems clear that many current students don’t understand the negative effects an event like this has on a university.  This school, the one that you will represent when you go into the work place, and the one that represents you when you put Michigan State University on your resume, now carries the stigma of the “school where the riots happen.”  It’s novel when you’re a student, it’s a disgrace when you’re an alumni.  And it seems like it only takes one negative event to displace the effects of ten positive ones.

Yet it’s too early for me to place blame on the students and others that attended Cedar Fest.  To be sure, the East Lansing police department has a reputation for overreacting to large gatherings in their jurisdiction.  We hope that the lessons of 1999, 2003 and 2005 have been learned.  Perhaps they have not.

Also interesting is how social networking site Facebook seems to have played a part in this as well.  Various articles report that a Cedar Fest group or event was posted on Facebook and that at least 6,000 people indicated that they would attend (see here and here)  I’m curious if there will be any fallout from this to the tune of discussion about blocking social networking sites on campus.  I doubt such action would be taken.  Certainly resurrecting a 1986 party where 85 people were arrested and 33 were injured is no small feat.

Does anyone have any info on the 1986 Cedar Fest?  Was it just a bunch of drunken debauchery, or was it a more organized affair?  Does anyone have the URL to the Facebook event page for Cedar Fest?  Also, if anyone who was there has any first-hand accounts, I’m interested to hear them.