Cedar Fest a mess

It would not surprise me. The other thing that wouldn’t surprise me is if they started arresting people based on the things that they posted to Facebook. I very briefly perused the groups set up to showcase pictures, and found a number of people that had posted what had happened to them and pictures of them tearing up the place. Stupidity like that will get you thrown out if you are not careful.

It was a peaceful block party until the police showed up. So maybe next time the police should leave a peaceful party alone. But they won't. Why? Because they enjoy getting dressed up in riot gear and harassing students. It's good to know that our enrollment numbers are going to drop yet again this fall… Nice work EL/MSU PD!

Always funny to see the “everything was calm as a bridge party until the evil, maniacal ELPD showed up” post. Especially when even the ACLU calls the police “restrained.” You might want to close that conspiracy theory book you’re reading.

It’s too bad the cops couldn’t use napalm and level the whole complex. That place has been a dump since the early 90s.

I was there, and I think everyone basically got what they deserved.

The girls that flashed and were ticketed should know the law. Ignorance is no excuse. Although you might not agree with it, you can’t complain about the consequences. Heck, even some of the flashers I saw got a way with it.

To the majority of the people hit with flying objects… stop complaining. If you go to a huge event with a bunch of beligerent people you should expect such activity. Have you ever been to a tailgate or a concert? Or maybe when you saw things being thrown you should have expected it. Basically, you should have just left, and if you chose to stay, you can’t complain.

To those who got tear gased. I really doubt that the majority of you know the difference between the tear gas the police used and the non-toxic smoke bombs. So if you didn’t leave when you saw the smoke bombs then you can’t complain about being tear gased cause you had time to leave as soon as you saw the first smoke. The first smoke bombs should have been ample warning (not to mention the announcements that were made at both ends of the street.) Basically, if you decided to stick around to see if the smoke bombs were tear gas or not, and decided to push your luck further, you can’t complain.

In reallity, a lot of the people there were not the ones inticing the police to take forcful actions and you should be happy you got to party in the street for such a long time. I saw hundreds of potential open-intox canidates that quite happily continued to chug thier drinks in the middle of the street.

If you didn’t want to be a part then you could have left!

If you did want to party you probably had a great time, and I think its your own fault you didn’t leave when you had the chance.

The people throwing bottles at police got what they deserved. What did you expect? The police are eventually going to retaliate when you chant thinks like “F### the police!” and “Tear Gas!” over and over.

Based on what I heard there were a number of people who wanted to push the limits hoping to be a part of a tear gas incident. So those people can’t really complain.

I think the only people who can’t complain are residents of Cedar Village and nearby residencies that had absolutly no part in the event yet still were bothered by noise and chemicals from the night.

Silly students.

I think Go Green is the Facebook dork who started this. Who else defends crap like this? I lived in Cedar Village for two years during my time at MSU in the mid-90’s and we never had anything like that happen. Not once were the cops ever needed to break anything up. Grow up and get out!!

The more things change the more they stay the same!!! This happened a few times when I was a student. I thought it was irresponsible and immature back then and still do now. For the girls that flashed their breasts…GROW UP!!! Is this something you will be proud of 5, 10, 20 years from now? Pictures of this will never go away. Behave accordingly.

Earlier this year I attended a tailgate at Central Michigan University, and was surprised to find how many people there were in the parking lot at CMU, you could barely walk, and how crazy it was… I’d say Saturday night in cedar village was pretty comparable to that…

We’ve been restricted by all these laws, what do you expect? Our tailgates were killed in 2004, and laws keep MSU pretty peaceful. So what if one night people wanna get rowdy and have some fun? I will admit I left before the tear gas, so I am not condoning anyone’s behavior who was still around for that. But saying our school isn’t as good anymore because of it? As far as Im concerned Western and Central tailgates are like this all the time… we have maybe one crazy night every 2-3 years….

These dolts got what they asked for – simple as that. We did too back when I was in school. I’m not a big fan of cops, but based on history, they did the right thing. Too bad they didn’t use real bullets on the major idiots in the crowd.

I can see rioting over Tibet.
I can see rioting over Iraq.
But this was just drunken debauchery. When you idiots go for an interview and you state that you went to MSU and the interviewer laughs, remember Cedar Fest.

Everyone who is on here whining about the police presence and what occured are completely off the mark. The police HAD to be there, they are required to keep tabs on any assembly of such a large size. All in all, the police were very restrained. Cedar Fest was 1,000 to 2,000 people larger than the 2005 Final Four incident, and the crowd (or some in it) did get violent, throwing bricks and bottles at officers, setting fires, and even managing to hit fellow students with the fray. In 2005, they used 299 canisters, this year…..13. I don’t see how they could have been much more restrained than that. As for the people who were destroying stop signs, dumspters, etc. How can you blame the police? By destroying property, and even managing to hurt fellow students, it shows just how ridiculous their sense of community and school pride is. The past disturbances in Cedar Village are the exact reason why the East Village re-zoning was passed and why that area is going to dramatically change in the coming years. All that Cedar Fest did was provide the City and the University with more ammunition to restrict students even further. You have to actually exhibit some control in order to get respect. Way to go fellow Spartans, once again the stupidity of so few manages to taint our school’s image even more…

I was there in the streets with we won the Nat’l Championship in 2000. It was one of my favorite memories of being at State. The streets were jammed with people celebrating and having a good time. Grand River was packed also! Cops were there, but they didn’t do anything to provoke a riot. We were excited and happy and nothing bad happened. Go Green, don’t blame it on the cops. It’s all about the people and what their mood is. Chanting Riot? Seriously?

Ok..the police were around the block party around 7pm and were not dressed in riot gear. At around 2am they began getting hit by beer bottles and landscaping bricks. Around 3am they were forced to put on riot gear and calm the people that were out of control. I’m sick of the excuse the you riot because police are there. If that were true, you would have began much earlier than 2 in the morning. I’m gonna go with students were too drunk for their own good and when you mix that with a low IQ you get what you got. Grow the f^&( up you morons! By the way, Facebook boy, he’s getting minimum of 2 yrs suspension and will be paying all damages around and in the DTN management area. So all you pricks bad mouthing the police…pool your money together and help him pay or stfu.

You idiots need to grow up and stop tarnishing MSU. What is the point of getting thousands of people together to stand in the street? Have a concert, do something productive. This is an embarrassment to Spartan Alumni, as well as anyone with an association to the school. If you are going to get together for a riot, have a purpose instead of just being drunken assholes. People need to stop covering up for MSU. Oh not all of the people were MSU students? Who cares. There were ton of MSU students in attendance who stupidly contribute to their downfall of the school. Go complain about tuition rising and all the frills you think you deserve but don’t get and then wonder why. All you participants are just idiots.

“c’mon people”-You are a complete idiot. No one got hurt?? Really? Maybe you should check the LSJ gallery and notice the pic of the girl with a shirt covering her bloody head, while her friend runs to get the police to help her. Heaving glass bottles into a crowd? Sounds like a really healthy gathering. As for the search light? Sorry, but flashing is illegal, like it or not, and the police have a responsibility to enforce a law, no matter how mundane it may seem. You are the exact kind of fool that can’t even be immature enough to admit that Cedar Fest may not have been such a good idea. Keep placing blame on other people, I’m sure that will take you very far in life. It must be fun to be a spineless person.

You current students just don’t seem to get the point of the situation here, it doesn’t MATTER whether the East Lansing/MSU cops show up ‘fully dressed in riot gear’ waiting for something to happen. Acting like idiots and screaming to get tear gassed, throwing bottles?? All that will do is entice them to act out against the students if they’re as ready to cry foul as you say they are.
In my years at MSU, and yes I as there for the ’00 National Championship as well, the students were pouring into the streets around Cedar Village and the rest of campus. The police were there to quiet anything that went out of hand, but nothing did and we all had a great time. Other big parties in the Village and on Grand River were much the same thing, we all got together and celebrated getting to the Final Four or winning a football game against Michigan, and nothing happened. The police were there because they had to be, and in one instance I saw them helping out a girl who fell and got injured. That’s it! Take it for what it’s worth.
The actions of the student body that participated in the riot gather nothing more than a collective groan from most of the student body, and ALL proud Michigan State graduates who time after time again have to try to convince people that we’re more than a party school, and that we actually have great programs and can be taken seriously. This just makes us take a step backward. Way to go.

Good job (again) MSU students. It’s one thing if a party got out of hand, but when this was planned out ahead of time. This is posted on CNN, etc. How stupid. You think potential empolyers don’t see this? Yes, party and have a good time. But grow up and know when to quit. No wonder students are often looked down upon; its the few bad ones that give the majority a bad name. These same partiers are probably the ones crying the loudest that Cedar Village, etc. may be razed by new development. Well, rioting there certainly doesn’t help their cause. This talk that police incited the rioters is a bunch of garbage.

What I can’t wait for is next year. It sucks that the guy who created the event is getting charged.. but honestly. East Lansing is tearing Cedar Village down in a few years… i actually heard that next year is it’s last year. If the police honestly dont think that there is going to be a party like that say… at least every month next year before they tear it down.. they are in for a big suprise. East Lansing and the police did this to themselves. If they hadn’t made cedar fest such a big deal, or if the cops didn’t show up in riot gear.. it wouldn’t have sparked the students interests to see stuff go down. Its the cops fault and its the students fault for what happened. Lets face it.. we wanted to be a part of a riot (which believe me… didn’t happen) and hte cops wanted to play with some toys. It was a fun night and like i said before.. i can’t wait for next year. GO GREEN. GO WHITE.

It is truly sad that people are not better at taking responsibility. Those who think it’s no big deal will (if they’re lucky) get a job out of college, and when they enter the workforce, they will be asked where they went. I will tell you honestly, you will get more negative comments, and snide remarks, and couch-burning jokes, and low-acceptance standards comments, and everything else, than anyone else around will get. This includes people that went to WMU, CMU, Oakland, Wayne St. etc. All good schools, but not with MSU’s academic standards. But you will bear the brunt. I’m saying it because in 11 years since I have graduated, it’s happened tons of times. And these jokes form public opinion of our school, whether you like it or not. It wasn’t ok what happened. It doesn’t happen often at other schools our size or close to our size. The media is not to blame. They are not blowing it out of proportion – the cops were there to protect peace, and too many people didn’t respect that – not 1 or 2, but many more, and definitely many more than were arrested. And many were MSU students, and many were their friends. You will hear people over the next couple years asking you if you want to be tear-gassed, you will hear people asking if you’d like to throw a bottle, you’ll hear people asking if you’d like to set a dumpster on fire. You can choose to say it’s not acceptable what happened, or you can bury your head in the sand.

‘97 Grad is right. I hope this is the last time we hear about this kind of thing from MSU. State is such a great school and I am so tired of tying to remind people about our Rhodes Scholars, faculty with Nobel prizes, Tier 1 academic programs and great athletic teams only to have fewer than 100 idiots, at least half of whom aren’t even students, start a riot and diminish the whole university’s collective reputation. I hope there are a lot of convictions and expulsions after this is all cleared up. Some of these students (even including the organizers) may be in for a rude awakening regarding the trouble they are in.

FYI From Lawyers.com: A riot is a public disturbance involving an act of violence by one or more persons who are assembled in a group of at least three people. The act of violence must be one that presents a clear and present danger of injury to another person or damage to another person’s property. Threatening to commit a violent act in such a group situation that could injure another person or damage property is also considered a riot if one of the persons in the group has the ability at the time to carry out the threatened violence. Inciting a riot applies to a person who organizes, encourages, or participates in a riot. It can apply to one who urges or instigates others to riot. It does not apply to someone who merely advocates ideas or expresses beliefs, if those ideas and beliefs do not involve advocating violence. -_JERALYN E. MERRITT_

I completely echo what “‘97 grad” says above. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve been asked if I would like to burn a couch. I’m just glad that I don’t have to associate that closely with State anymore and I’m getting my graduate degree elsewhere. I’m at least pround of that.

I do not understand how so many of you alums are saying how ashamed you are to have gone to Michigan State. Did you really not have fun here? Did you really not love the campus, the sports, the atmosphere of the Spartan family? How can you be ashamed of what you put 4+ years of your life in to? Just because a few idiots started something we all regret was made so bad does not mean that you should be ashamed of this GREAT University. That is like a Virginia Tech alum saying he or she was ashamed to go there because one guy murdered 32 people, or a Michigan alum saying he or she is ashamed to be a Wolverine because the Uni-Bomber was an alumnus of their school. Just because there are idiots at this school, just like other schools, that should not give you any reason to hate or be ashamed of this beautiful school and the beautiful traditions associated with it. Think back to those beautiful spring days just sitting by the Red Cedar, or your first football game, the crowds Roar as the Green and White took the field. Some of you have said that you were lucky enough to be here when MSU won championships, think back and remember what it was like to be atop the Sporting world, how proud you were then. How proud were you to walk across that stage and become an official alumnus of Michigan State University? Just remember the memories.

Do not be ashamed of this University, Michigan State is a beautiful place full of excellence and excellent people. Do not allow the idiocy of a few to damper your greatest memories of this special place.

GO GREEN, GO WHITE, GO STATE!

If people want to get pissed off at police, there are really sooo many examples of abuse by police out there to use. You don’t need this.
How about getting pissed off at the woman in Ohio who was stipped by men officers with excessive force and left naked in a jail cell when a call went to the police that she had been a victim of assault? How about getting pissed off knowing that we probably never hear about abuse like this of women of color, women who work as sex workers et cetera?
How about getting pissed off about sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County in Arizona who encourages racial profiling, is proud to be compared to the KKK, is proud of treating dogs better than inmates, has denied medical care to inmates causing several deaths including denying transport of a female inmate to her abortion appointment, houses inmates in a “tent city” prison where temps can reach 100 degrees or more, and of course all the implications this has for people living in Maricopa County? How about getting pissed off that a woman was locked in a cell for 4 days without any food or water?
There is a lot of police brutality out there to get pissed off at.
Asking the police to tear gas you is not necessary.

Erin, interesting points worthy of discussion, but this is probably not the best forum to discuss all of the social injustice in the world.

I find it hard to believe that once again the ELPD and MSUPD would be dumb enough to use tear gas and the like to disperse crowds after the backlash they received after 2005. By looking at the stats of the night alone and comparing it to the stats from the 2005 disturbance, the police showed a great deal of restraint in the tactics they used to disperse the crowds. I was there in 2005 and will be the first to admit that the police were out of control and out of line last night, but this wasn’t 2005, so stop trying to make it out to be like that. What happened on saturday night was the result of people who think its entertaining and fun to have tear gas used on them. Why else would you have crowds of people chanting, “we want tear gas.” Those people are a disgrace to this university and I hope that they get the punishment they deserve.

You can say that it was the police or the organizer’s fault, whatever, and you can debate about it all day. What you can’t debate is that having a riot at a school is an embarrassment for trying to get students to come here, and it is making it harder for alums to get jobs….fair or not, once an interviewer has something in their head, it is VERY hard to change it. Michigan State made the front page of the Detroit News….and it isn’t a positive for anyone who is affiliated with the University.

@MSU_ALUM_1981: You are 100% correct. The police and the city have created this hostility after several years of ‘enforcing’. State is a STATE school, we will never be top tier. It’s a school for average to bright kids who come from mostly middle class backgrounds. Kids come here to have a good time. But you have the city along with the university enabling the EL/MSU Pricks & Dicks to be the fun police all year…OF COURSE there are going to be times when frustrations are vented.

What if all this had been a huge “end the war” protest? Or anything productive at all? Are students at MSU completely unable to organize for any sort of cause besides “hey dude, massive party bro?” I would like to hope that students at a respected, expensive university like MSU would have the sense to organize something, well, a little more grown-up. At the very least: if you’re going to incite the cops to tear-gas you, do it for the right reasons!

Seems the students think that partying is their right and that it doesn’t hurt others. Several times during my professional career have folks made the burn a couch-type comments to me. MSU students rioting/partying on CNN? Fact of the matter is, stupid events like Cedar Fest give MSU a bad name — not only its students, but in some cases its alumns. Granted it is the fault of a small number of losers, but were all guilty by association – unfortunately. Even though about half of the losers at this things were not MSU students, this was held by and advertised by MSU students. True Spartans should unite and help ensure that the losers organizing this are prosecuted. Buy acting this way, they care not about themselves or others.

The real disgrace to the Alum is this sausage-fest you current students call a Cedar Fest. 4000 dudes standing around throwing bottles and tearing out street signs. Gay.

A lot of alumn do care about MSU. That is why they are upset. We want to continue to be associuated with a fine school. The idiots out there rioting are the ones that don’t seem to care much about their school or community (or future reputations in the real world). Sure, tear the place up and leave after 4 years… It is nice to see that a majority of students can party responsibly — they have lives and better things to do on a Saturday night than Cedar Fest. Worse, Cedar Fest is not a protest over any ordinance or political issue — its just a stupid party.

It needs to be understood that punishment to casual observers can not be handed down to anyone who left prior to the loud speaker announcements that took place. Obviously offenders throwing bottles and ripping signs down is another story in and of itself that deserves legal recourse.

So to the “embarrassed alumni” although I commend your facebook navigation skills in catching those who have violated your sense of pride in the University, there were a number of parties that took place on Cedar Street throughout the day that were lawful and undeserving of any further legal action.

I would like to thank the ELPD for allowing these to go on for you have gained a great deal of respect from a lot of the student body.

Here is the link to the Presidents take on the events.

http://president.msu.edu/desk/index.php?/site/weekend_disruptions/

Cedar Fest is and alway has been an embarassment to MSU. You cannot blame the police for doing thier job. The same idiots blaming the police are the first babies to cry when they need a cop! Someday you little jag-offs will have jobs to do to. If you think the real world will put up with your infantile behavior, enjoy living in your Mom’s basement, working the drive up window and riding your moped to the mall.

From what i can see this gathering did not constitute a ‘riot’. We had a similar situation at Cedar Village in 1989, and the fire department used fire hoses on us. There were a few fires set, a couple of beds and sofas burned. More continually baffling to me is the attitude of the officials of East Lansing, and to a lesser degree MSU. They should have learned a long time ago that if you treat the student body with respect and give them organized party-situations (that are done at many other schools) this sort of random gathering will not happen. I love State, but was so sick of E.L. by the time I graduated that i never wanted to go back. College students need to know why they are in school; however at 38 years of age, I still remember wanting to blow off a little steam when i was in school, and really hating the city for acting like they would be anything without the students. As an alumnus, this does not embarrass me. The embarrassing part of it is the fellow alums like me who act like they have no idea how any of this happened…time to remember what it was like to be young, guys. There were no gunshots, no one was killed. Try going to a school or living in a city where there are real issues like gang problems, freeway murders, and 55,000 homeless. E.L. doesn’t know how good they have it that the worst problem they have are a gathering, a few bottles thrown and tear gas.

As a new professor at MSU (starting this fall), I am certainly ashamed by this event and I wonder why I decided to accept a job there when I could have gone elsewhere. (I am also seriously reconsidering whether to live in east lansing if this kind of thing happens every few years.) I was told that MSU is not just a party school for dumb kids who couldn’t get into UM, and you can be sure that I am very embarrassed that my colleagues have seen the news about this riot and will be asking me about it. Maybe I have made a big mistake deciding to devote my time to teaching students who would rather party than learn… heck, maybe I should party next year instead of working on lectures or grading papers! Clearly MSU students don’t really go to college for an education anyway! (I am certain there are still many serious students at MSU, but this the impression this story gives me — and the rest of the country.)

As for you students or alums debating whether you should be ashamed (and I would be if I were you), what you should be really worried about is that this is exactly the sort of publicity that will keep talented faculty from accepting jobs at MSU and that WILL hurt your school in the long run for sure.

I was @ the 05 ‘RIOT’ + it was completely ridiculous. ELPD + 54-b court is a bunch of corrupt crooks + I guarantee every spartan that reads this would agree that the parking code enforcement car that got its windshield smashed in HAD IT COMING. All the spartans know that the pig department there has NO respect for the students. I highly doubt any of the people starting fires + throwing bottles went to state + if you do, you need to drop out of your frat, you’re an embarrasment to the school, + you need an ass beating. For everyone else, sounds like you were just havin a good time til the cops showed up, same thing that happened in 05.

10:44pm – police officers forced to put on helmets

hahahaha GO GREEN!

Having a party is not a big deal but the Cedar fest is sort of cross the limit. hopefully, we can have a peaceful/BIG party next year.

As someone mentioned before, I seriously doubt that any sorority or fraternity members were involved in “CedarFest.” Greeks have worked hard through the years to establish strong ties with the community and would not throw it away for one night of revelry.

I also doubt that the most serious trouble-makers were MSU students. However, that does not leave the MSU students that participated free from culpability. I tell my students that they are who they associate with. Imagine explaining this one to a bunch of high school freshmen who dream of attending their teacher’s university. The sad fact is that many of the people arrested appear to be college freshmen. If they came here for the wrong reasons (to party), then they deserve what they get.

I witnessed the riots/disturbances in 2005 while working in Snyder Hall, directly across from Cedar Village. I was disgusted, both with the behavior of the students and with the law enforcement. However, I believe that since then, the police, city, and university have worked hard to learn from the mistakes and missteps in that fiasco. It is shameful that the current students threw all of that away in one night.

Imagine my surprise to see my beloved university ridiculed every half hour on CNN.

When you’re a freshmen, you have no idea how your time at MSU will affect your future. Let this serve as a wake-up call to those ignorant students who choose to disrespect and damage the reputation of Michigan State.

Enonymous prof
What’s the problem, you couldn’t get into another school? Loser! Problem is, we’re stuck with your dumb ass until you can’t get tenure here either.

I blame the crooks who run the city of East Lansing for maintaining a poor relationship with the campus and its students, and the absolutely unprofessional ELPD. Why is it that students at the University of North Carolina can have controlled “riots”/parties with fires in the middle of the streets of Chapel Hill, and the police just supervise to make no one gets hurt? Why in East Lansing is there the antagonism between students, the community, and the police? The police in EL have tarnished their badges too many times. This general distrust of the PD coupled with the riot gear created a certain expectation of behavior for the students on Saturday night.

The week after graduation I will be out of this hell hole and never looking back. And unless I see drastic changes made I have no intention in sending my children to my alma mater. Nice work city leaders!

Anonymous Prof:

Man, I hope you’re joking.

I’ve been on the MSU faculty since 1982, had offers elsewhere, stayed here because I love it and because I’ve been supported, successful in my research, and love my teaching. Students here are great. The Honors College is superior. The faculty are world class in many areas, including my own. This place is focused on success and eager for continued improvement.

If you’re real – and like I say, I doubt it – then, what you wrote was breathtaking in its stupidity. You obviously don’t get it: the privilege it is to be on the faculty of a world-class institution, to practice your scholarship and to teach…and to actually get paid by the public for it.

If you want to talk, my name’s real. Ask around, you’ll find me. But, from your attitude, you really may not belong here. (By the way, we’ve raised our family in East Lansing and wouldn’t trade a minute. But, you may not fit in there either.)

I hope that the 99% of you who were not engaged in this mess will make life impossible for those who were… Police can’t do it, the city can’t do it, the faculty can’t do it, and the administration can’t do it: In the end, only peer encouragement will steer the childish away from embarrassments waiting to happen.

greek letter societies?! is it just like the skulls?? seriously, what in the world do I have to do to get in??????????

Prof. Brock.
Thank you for loving MSU.
Professors who love being here as much as I do make class that much more enjoyable.

Ceder Fest 2008 – What a Riot!

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