Saving Face: The Aftermath of the MSU Celebrations

By Mary Pantle on December 17, 2013

Everyone who watches college football is aware that MSU beat Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship Dec. 7.  They may also be aware that, according to the press and public officials,  the students in East Lansing took to the streets and caused chaos.  After reading the many unjust and uninformed comments from the many different articles of how wrong the students were, I thought that it was necessary to set things straight.

Before you start accusing the students for being too extreme in their partying, let us just establish that it has been 25 years since we have been in the Rose Bowl.  Did people think that we were just going to quietly sit in our residences and pretend this happens every day?  Well if so, then that is your fault.  You clearly don’t watch the news and realize that these events happen all the time after big, exciting, important games.

Secondly, while I am not saying that it is the fault of the police for these parties, they should have been better prepared.  If you are not aware of what happens then fine, but the police deal with students all the time.  They are aware that parties can at times get out of hand and that burning couches is a tradition.  If it wasn’t for the students, they probably wouldn’t even have jobs seeing that they ticket, fine, and arrest students to an unnecessary extreme.  But I digress, if the ELPD had actually been prepared for the evening they would have been able to prevent what had happened.

The police, who arrived unjustly, arrested students who were not even taking part in the bonfire.  They were bystanders who wanted to be involved in celebrating a very important moment in MSU’s football history.  The fact that the police abused their power to arrest these people is unjust, and if anyone should be facing criminal action, it should be them.

The entire East Lansing judicial system is abusing their power in trying to make their political statements.  Instead of trying to uphold the justice system, they are more concerned with making sure they condemn what happened and make sure that the university does not loose funding.

Michigan State University should be proud that the students were able to come together and celebrate such an exciting event.  They should be proud that we support our teams and that we uphold the traditions of our school.  Yes, burning couches may be a little odd, but isn’t the entirety of college a little odd?

Trying to make examples of the 15 students who were arrested of the supposed thousands who were there is utterly ridiculous.  They are aware that they do not have a case, and they are using the system to keep the blame off of themselves and keep face in the national spotlight.

As a student, I am ashamed–not of the students, but of everyone who tried to make it appear that what happened in a time of celebration was unacceptable, and of everyone who used the system to save face.

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