Publishing names of students charged for Cedar Fest wrong

*I feel by publishing their information on the front page, you are tainting their good name. *

If they were rioting, they should not have a good name … and should have a taint.

It’s public information, why shouldn’t the State News publish it? God forbid the State News help deter crime.

Bold Text*I personally enjoy seeing these morons hung out to dry so that our school’s reputation does not have to suffer.*Bold Text

Steve 2, by continuing to publish people’s names and photos throughout the SN, we are not pushing Cedar Fest aside. Instead, the situation continues to be at the forefront where it shouldn’t be.

The State News is OUR school paper; we pay a fee for it. Why is it then, that the State News goes against our own student body and sides with the City of East Lansing on majority of issues pertaining to us and them. The SN needs to rethink who’s paper this really is. East Lansing’s or MSU’s?

Dumb bitch.

Seriously? I bet if these kids did something good they would want the publicity. If they did something wrong, they get their fancy picture & name in the paper too. I have no doubt they don’t like it, but they sure as heck shouldn’t have done what they did. They earned the “public humiliation”. Its not like the news was untrue, why not report it? To make the criminals feel better about themselves? Who gives a rat’s …?

And captain obvious… you just suck.

“The people posting that these individuals should be hung out to dry, probably have no life and get satisfied in seeing others mistakes…”

NO, we’re tired of idiots like them doing whatever the hell they want without consequences.

It’s public record anyway, so publish away SN. Rioters don’t have a good name to save. If you burn down or destroy any part of my alma mater, then you should be punished and publically humiliated in the paper, as well as punished in court. Face the consequences freshmen and GROW UP.

I actually think it’s a good move by the SN. It actually shows they’re being professional. Additionally, no one had any problems last year when they published all that stuff on Nigel Scarlett, nor when they published about the student who embezzled from the College of Education. How is this any different? It is public information and any employer will find out whether they look at this paper or not. Background checks have become a fact of life in most jobs. So saying that publishing their names and crimes is only going to make it worse for them, obviously doesn’t know that any future employers can easily find out if they choose so.

On a tangent, since they are publishing these names with pictures, does this mean they are finally going to start publishing suspects races on the police briefs again?

When you commit crimes it is published in the news. This is nothing new and is practiced by journalists everywhere. Let it be a deterrent.

Why do I care so much?

Aside from all of your presumptuous opinions, I care so much because I have been standing by watching one of my friends’ lives be ruined for absolutely no reason. On the night of Cedar Fest, yes my friend was there. What did he get arrested for? He pushed his friend in a joking manner and was immediately charged with inciting a riot. He pushed HIS friend. Not into someone, not through the crowd, just a friendly push, like you probably shove your friends when they make fun of you. Or maybe not, because some of you seem too serious and flawless to joke around.

My friend has NEVER been in trouble before, and is a very good kid and an amazing, hardworking student. Although you all assume that ALL of those being persecuted are delinquents then maybe you should stop for a second, and think about someone you know who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I wrote this letter because of the fact that I have watched him live on an 8 oclock curfew with an in-house tether for 6 months (not preventing him from partying, as you are all going to assume, but preventing him from IM basketball and even going to the Library to study), get charged with an assload of fines, and now, if not to make it better, they are ruining his future by suspending him from school and sending him to jail. The night before the article about him was published, the day of his court date, I asked him if he had to go to jail, and he said yes, but please don’t tell anyone. And THAT is why I wrote this letter. Not to protect those assholes who ripped out signs or destroyed property. NOT to protect the non-MSU students that shouldn’t have been there at all. No, I did it, because I knew how much it hurt him. The fact that they are making an example out of someone who was wrongfully charged is what made me write this letter. He can no longer step foot on the campus he has loved and been loyal to for 3 years, and now his last year, he is banned. And why? Because instead of a fair trial, he’s being treated just the same as the pricks that make MSU look bad everyday. Does every person who gets an MIP get put in the State News? No.

This is my question for you: Why did the EL police permit this to happen? They were there and armed with their weapons and tear gas, why didn’t they stop it before it started, knowing it would go too far? I’m not saying that you should all agree with me, which I know that you don’t.

I am a student here, and I obviously understand the Freedom of the Press. But the Freedom of the Press has 2 sides. Maybe if the State News had chosen to interview my friend and take his story, I wouldn’t have cared. As he is one of the few MSU students arrested, rather than blatantly publishing his information on the FRONT PAGE, which I think this is just to make an example, they could have asked HIM questions, got HIS take on that night, and maybe all of you close-minded Spartans would have realized he doesn’t deserve the treatment he is getting. I guess I thought in one aspect of his life, he deserved a break. I guess all of you are so perfect, you’ve never done anything wrong on this campus that you wished you could take back.

The purpose of the State News is to inform, not to attack and embarrass. But if attacking is its goal, a certain some of you readers are obviously in the right place.

getting arrested at Cedar fest is slutty. period.

Sorry to hear about your friend. I think that in a court of law though, you have to be proven guilty of a crime to get jail time. I don’t know the details of the situation, but I think that anyone facing jail time would lawyer up and put it on the ELPD to prove that he incited a riot. Just pushing someone (a friend even) sure isn’t a crime worth jail. IF that is all he really did, he did get screwed. Sorry to hear that. But it still amazes me that if you are faced with that unfortunate situation, you pull out all the stops. You hire a lawyer that is the best, even if it takes a long time to pay back. Like you said, the record stays with you.

Oh and by the way, once someone is arraigned on a charge it becomes public record. I can go to the Court, get all the names, make flyers, and post them all over billy hell and back if I want. They have every right to publish it and they should. A little public humiliation for misdeeds goes a long way. I think they should publish their pics too.

People need to be held accountable for their actions. If they don’t want their names in the paper, they shouldn’t be rioting. Although this is going to be an extreme example, do you think that sex offenders shouldn’t be on a registry? If you screw up, people deserve to know.