The Lansing branch of the American Civil Liberties Union is doing its own investigation into the Oct. 12 anthrax scare at Linton Hall.
Female employees from the graduate school in Linton Hall, who asked not to be identified, told The State News they did not feel the statement issued last week by university administrators adequately addressed some changes and improvements to the chemical investigation process.
Changes to improve privacy, safety and communication for future chemical investigations were made, but there was no effort to explain problems with the Oct. 12 investigation, the employees said.
An ACLU attorney is investigating whether federal and state codes and guidelines were followed during the investigation.
Henry Silverman, president of the Lansing ACLU, said employees from Linton Hall approached the organization for advice. The ACLU’s investigation will take “as long as it needs,” Silverman said.
“There are a lot of new issues that have developed since Sept. 11, and this is just one of them,” Silverman said. “But people have always had difficulties in some situations where they feel their rights have been jeopardized or compromised by actions of the state.”
Fifteen employees stripped and went through a decontamination process led by the East Lansing Fire Department on Oct. 12 before being transported to Lansing’s Sparrow Hospital.
The employees said the decontamination process was inconsistent from person to person. Open windows and officers without emergency chemical suits gave the impression the investigation wasn’t taken seriously, they said.
But MSU police Assistant Chief Jim Dunlop said the agencies responding to the incident did the best they could with limited knowledge.
Rules and guidelines for decontamination and anthrax investigations change almost daily, he said.
“We had no expectation before the events of Sept. 11 that this would happen,” he said. “These are the same folks that would respond if you had a heart attack or anything else. You have to take what is available - but this is a different situation.”
Dunlap said changes made for future investigations include the creation of a rapid-response team to analyze reported chemical or biological problems. MSU police usually receive at least one call about a suspicious letter per day, he said.
The Oct. 12 incident was the result of a mix-up by police dispatchers, university officials said. No white powder was found. A rapid response team would have prevented problems, Dunlap said.
A privacy tent has been purchased to prevent future privacy problems during investigations. On-site anthrax test kits also are being used by the department.
In addition, a designated “communicator” will serve as a liaison between police officials and those who may be affected within a building, Dunlap said.
“They are able to assess what the situation is and add to whatever resources are needed instead of having a huge response,” Dunlap said.
MSU Provost Lou Anna Simon, who wrote the statement along with Fred Poston, vice president for finance and operations, said future investigations will be run better than the Oct. 12 investigation.
“We didn’t list all the improvements,” she said. “We didn’t need to go back and redo things. We didn’t need to backtrack because the testing showed there wasn’t any white powder.
“We looked at the underlying core, things that might help it. We have arguments to improve the parts we can control now.”
