Because no police officers were disciplined after the April 2-3 disturbances, all disturbance-related charges against students should be dropped and the fines returned, one independent commission member contends.

University physician Beth Alexander wrote the personal statement to go along with the final recommendations of the commission, which was created to review the events of April 2-3 and allegations that police used too much force. The final recommendations were released today.

"I felt pretty strongly that there were a few things that I didn't agree with and that there were things left unsaid that I personally needed to say," Alexander said Thursday. "In terms of staying true to myself, I felt I had to write it."

In her statement, Alexander argued for the commission to comment on mistakes by parties involved in the disturbance.

"All people make mistakes, and it is not necessarily the mistakes that cause the most long-term damage, but rather the failure to acknowledge these mistakes clearly that holds the power to fuel long-term resentment," Alexander wrote in her statement.

The commission created 29 recommendations that deal with planning, prevention, implementation and post-event assessment measures for large, celebratory events. The introduction of the report states, "the purpose of this report is not to elaborate on who is to blame."

"If we had been charged with assigning blame, we would have had to proceed in a completely different manner," commission member Nancy Schertzing said. "At no time and in no way were we expecting or expected to be the determiners of who's at fault here."

However, some students and commission members say the report should have held people accountable.

"The feedback that I've heard is that we should've assigned blame," commission member and student Derek Wallbank said. "We missed the boat and I think we'll be more ineffective because of that."

The commission voted 5-4 at its last meeting to avoid blaming anyone in the report for what happened that night.

A draft report of the recommendations was presented for public discussion on Oct. 26 at a public forum. Commission members said the testimony they heard made some impact on the final recommendations.

"I know the one about having health stations was bolstered because of a young woman's testimony about the asthma attack she had," Schertzing said of the recommendation about having a readily accessible first aid station for decontamination of people affected by chemical munitions.

Commission members have until Dec. 1 to write optional personal statements, like Alexander's, to include with the report.

Alexander said it was important for her to write the statement because she felt strongly about testimony she heard.

"There are a number of students who feel the resolution of the events of April 2-3 were not fair and the commission really didn't hear them or believe them, I'm not sure which," Alexander said. "I really did hear a lot of what they said and I hope at least some of the students understand that some of us heard them and were very concerned about what we heard."

Zoology senior Benjamin Wickerham, who was arrested and charged in the disturbance, said the commission made the right decision not to appoint blame.

"That would just make the rift between the students and the city even deeper," Wickerham said.

Blame should have been included in the report, said computer science senior David Smith, who was also charged in the disturbance.

"The independent commission was officially responsible for making recommendations on how to handle this in the future," Smith said. "Placing blame doesn't deal with that exactly, but it helps bury the hatchet."

The recommendations have been sent to members of the East Lansing City Council, MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon and members of the MSU Board of Trustees for review.

"I hope they'll actually do something with them, embrace them and move forward with them," said commission member and student Andrew Schepers.

Margaret Harding can be reached at hardin42@msu.edu.