Do you remember what happened? You should and you should care.

Following MSU's loss to North Carolina in the NCAA Final Four on April 2, the streets on and near campus were packed with students leaving the bar or their friends' homes. Many of these students were going out to join the gathering crowd on the streets. Others were simply trying to go home.

In Cedar Village, people were chanting "Go Green, Go White!" or singing the MSU fight song in support of their team.

As more and more people began to assemble, they encountered 250 riot gear-clad officers.

A police-estimated gathering of 3,000 were involved in the April 2-3 disturbances. The East Lansing Police and surrounding area police agencies warned students to disperse as the crowd grew. When students failed to respond, force was used to make students comply.

Tear gas, pepper spray and physical force was used on students. Police arrested 43 people that night — 21 were MSU students charged with misdemeanors. Property damages were more than $5,500.

If you need a better reminder of the events that night, take a look at the photo.

According to a preamble and part of a rough draft of the independent commission's final report, police actions are justified as self-defense:

"The observers perceived the event as yet another spontaneous celebration that got out of hand, with police endangered by thrown rocks and bottles, and furniture, and refuse dragged into the streets and set afire, giving law-enforcement agencies no choice but to use riot-control procedures and weapons to get the situation under control."

This conclusion was made because students didn't tell their side of the story.

Afterward, students couldn't go to class without the "riot" being discussed. Police actions were condemned in many of their stories, and they expressed concerns about how the disturbances were handled.

In fact, concerns among both the student body and residents of East Lansing were so great that the independent commission was created to "review the events of April 2, 2005 and make recommendations regarding the appropriate response to such events," according to the City Council resolution that created the commission.

For months the commission met, attempting to draw testimony from several sources, including students, police and residents of East Lansing.

However, the Oct. 13 meeting meant for the public to comment had surprisingly low attendance, with only one resident — who didn't witness the events — offering testimony.

Most of the testimonies of students involved that night remain unheard by the commission. Their voices are most crucial in regard to an event that directly affected them.

The commission is now close to issuing a final draft for recommendations. The report is expected to cover planning, prevention, response and recovery and does not make what occurred that night the focus.

Before the commission focuses on how such disturbances should be handled in the future, however, they need to focus on the past and why the disturbances happened.

East Lansing Mayor Mark Meadows attempted to shift the responsibility of the commission he helped create when he stated in "Commission report to lay out plans for future melees" (SN 10/14), "(t)he job of the commission is not to point the finger of blame. It is not our job to make a decision as to who is at fault."

At the same time, though, the commission is laying the blame, saying that both students and area police are at fault.

Students already know that.

To create a better conclusion, however, students need to make their voices heard. On Oct. 26, students will have their final opportunity to speak to the commission. We urge students to attend and present their views of what happened that night.

It's vital that students' voices be heard for a fair report, which will truly take all perspectives on the events of that night into consideration.

Despite what the report ends up saying, if students fail to speak up, the perception residents have of them will take another hit.

Without hearing from students, the commission might accomplish nothing aside from an absolution of the city and a condemnation of students in what will likely be labeled as "just another riot."

If student's don't take a role, then how do they expect the commission to reach a fair conclusion?

They won't.