EAST LANSING (U-WIRE) - The MSU Board of Trustees voted 5-1 Friday to institute a temporary riot policy, effective immediately, that gives MSU the power to suspend rioting students.
The board tabled a general off-campus conduct policy at its meeting, but will continue to discuss that possibility.
The policy on riot behavior will become permanent April 30, 2001, unless the Academic Governance system proposes another policy to the board by that time. It does not apply to students charged in the March 27-28 riot.
Trustees Robert Weiss and Joel Ferguson were not present for the vote on the temporary policy.
The policy defines a riot as "five or more persons, acting in concert, who engage in violent conduct and thereby intentionally or recklessly cause or create a serious risk of causing public terror or alarm."
Conduct that violates the policy includes:
- setting fires.
- throwing bottles.
- destroying or defacing property.
- failing to disperse when directed by police.
- theft or looting.
- disrupting police or safety officials.
The policy applies to actions on campus, in local government jurisdictions, on other college campuses and in local jurisdictions adjacent to those campuses.
MSU officials can temporarily suspend students who violate the policy.
MSU President Peter McPherson said the riot policy is needed immediately "because the campus did not have the adequate authority to deal with a situation like the 27th of March.
"I think this is a very focused policy that tells students we are serious about this," he said.
Crowds of up to 10,000 people filled campus and East Lansing streets March 27-28, setting fires and causing at least $160,000 in damages.
At least four students have been suspended for their alleged involvement in the March 27-28 riot and the disturbance following MSU's loss to Kentucky. Two of those students were suspended for alleged off-campus crimes.
Those suspensions for off-campus crimes were allowed by a university policy that allows MSU officials to temporarily suspend students who they believe present a "clear and present" danger to "health or safety of persons or property."
In 1996, MSU considered an off-campus code of conduct that would have allowed the university to take action against students for violent behavior, arson, possession of firearms or explosives and criminal sexual conduct. The code was never voted on by the trustees.
Trustee Bob Traxler proposed the board only approve the riot policy so faculty members and students could join the discussion on other off-campus codes.
Traxler urged the board to "adopt a policy that makes it clear that participating in a riot ... constitutes a violation of university policy and is subject to disciplinary action."
Trustee Colleen McNamara questioned the motivations of adopting off-campus policies as a public-relations ploy. McNamara, who voted against the policy, called the board's reaction a "knee-jerk response." She said MSU already has an adequate policy to deal with ensuring the health and safety of students.
"Someone should be convicted in a court of law before this university takes the steps to a very serious and life-taking threat of suspending or expelling someone from a university," she said.
But Trustee Dee Cook said the an off-campus conduct policy isn't a public relations gimmick but a way to protect students, the community and respond to alumni.
"They want the institution protected and the institution's image cleaned up," she said.
East Lansing Council member Douglas Jester said Sunday he was pleased the board approved a policy on rioting. But he said the board needs to consider a general off-campus code to ensure the safety of MSU and East Lansing.
Jester said the city has endured other disturbances that did not qualify as a riot, "but did involve serious violations of the law, and I don't think these should be tolerated."
During the meeting, which lasted about five hours, many students, faculty and community members voiced their opinions on the off-campus code.
Bill Ramirez, a member of East Lansing Citizens for Neighborhoods and a former East Lansing housing commissioner, urged the board to institute a full off-campus code of conduct for students.
"It is our belief that if an off-campus code of conduct had been in place before the start of the 1997-1998 academic year, the city of East Lansing would have spared the last four recent riots," he said.
James Feeny, a humanities and pre-law junior, said the temporary policy will widen the gap between students and the trustees.
"Adopting even an interim policy not only will promote - but it will solidify - the belief that this group is merely a fictional group of people that do not (cater) to the students," he said at the meeting. Henry Silverman, president of the Lansing branch of the American Civil Liberties Union, said at the board meeting that the criminal justice system should punish citizens who have broken the law.
"I worry that the board has hastily put together a document full of ambiguity, certainly lacking in guaranteeing due process for students," he said.
Silverman, also the History Department chairman, said the policy is flawed, and the policy's development should have included students.
"It is open to lawsuits - not only about process but also about substance," he said.
Silverman pointed out to the board that testimony given by a student in a judicial hearing on campus could be used against him in a court of law, before they have been convicted of a crime.
After a student is temporarily suspended, he or she has a judicial hearing to determine the length of suspension.
04-13-99
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