The evidence is stacking up against the police involved in the April 2-3 disturbances. On Friday, MSU Vice President for Student Affairs and Services Lee June and eight of his colleagues gave firsthand accounts of the events they witnessed that night. For the police, this testimony was far from favorable - in fact, it was downright incriminating, especially coming from the typically reserved June.
When asked if students at MSU are considered second-class citizens in East Lansing, June simply replied, "Yes."
His colleague, Assistant Director of Student Life Cathy Neuman, also was critical of the justifications to use tear gas and pepper spray that night, saying of the crowds, "There was nothing that I would qualify as disruptive or violent behavior."
Finally, someone agrees with us.
Much thanks to these officials for stepping out on the line, getting teargassed in the process, in order to obtain a clear picture of what happened. Their testimony lends an air of authority to what otherwise might be dismissed as unreliable claims from students.
Perhaps police officers will now fully come to terms with the fact that the concerns of many students that the police acted improperly are not just the result of teenage angst-ridden worldviews, but are real.
Indeed, East Lansing police Chief Tom Wibert took an apologetic stance, saying to the commission, "There are things that happened that night that shouldn't have happened."
This is a good start. But it's one thing for the chief to apologize, and entirely another for the department's policy to change before this happens again. There are no easy answers.
But if the generally uneventful review commission meetings are any indicator, the result of the ongoing investigations might fail to provide any concrete solutions for the future. The commission needs to hear more testimony from people such as June and less from redundant police reports that were common knowledge since May.
Yes, thank you very much, East Lansing Police Department. It's quite clear the heavy-handed tactic of pre-emptive teargassing coincided with low property damage during the April 2-3 disturbances. Now, let's hear from someone who has a plan other than angering thousands of students, using hundreds of teargas canisters and wasting thousands of dollars on an overbearing police presence during every NCAA men's basketball tournament.
Wibert has a big job ahead of him in cleaning up the mistakes left by former Chief Louis Muhn, who was in charge during the April 2-3 disturbances. He should pay heed to the comments by June and his colleagues and take a different approach than his predecessor.
Order officers to go door-to-door and rebuild good relations with the community. Write a column or open letter explaining the police position.
Do something - learn from the mistakes of the past.
