A SPECIAL REPORT

AT MICHIGAN STATE, A PROTEST ESCALATES INTO A NIGHT OF FIRES, TEAR GAS, AND
ARRESTS

EAST LANSING, MICH. - Many people at Michigan State University expected
something big to happen at Munn Field on the night of May 1. They just
didn't know what.

E-mail messages had been flying all week, urging people to gather at Munn to
protest the administration's recent decision to ban alcohol there during
footballseason. The open, grassy field is a popular spot for students and
some alumni to gather for tailgate parties on game days.

Many students wanted to demand a greater voice in such decisions. Others
were just curious and wanted to watch from a safe distance. But many planned
to come packing beer, ready to let loose after the last day of classes
before exams.

What students found when they arrived on that cold, rainy night was that
police had closed the field, with officers standing along the chain-link
fence surrounding it. The crowd grew quickly to several hundred people.
Around 9:45, students began hurling bottles and cans at the police. Then
they toppled the waist-high fence and streamed onto the field. Police
responded with brief bursts of tear gas, but the crowd did not disperse.
Students milled around the field peacefully for half an hour before a chant
went up to march to the president's house.

By 11 p.m., the throng, by then more than 1,000 strong, had moved off campus
and onto city streets. Many of the original protesters had left, to be
replaced by people coming out of neighborhood bars. As the night went on,
the crowd grew to about 2,000 and became wilder. By dawn, police had lobbed
several rounds of tear gas, and firefighters had extinguished at least half
a dozen bonfires, one of which licked higher than a traffic signal above a
street. Seventeen students had been arrested on charges including
trespassing and kindling a fire.

In the aftermath last week, questions and regrets settled over Michigan
State like a hangover.

Many students and administrators were embarrassed by televised footage of
the riot, which was played over and over again on the national news.

Michigan State is huge, they said. Even if 2,000 students rioted, that means
40,000 did not. Administrators also regret that the violence eclipsed news
that two Michigan State professors had just been elected to the National
Academy of Sciences.

But if most people deplore the riot, students, administrators, and police
have different points of view about why it took place and how it got out of
hand.

M. Peter McPherson, Michigan State's president, said putting an end to
underage drinking at tailgate parties was an easy decision. Students had
occasionally burned furniture at Munn parties, and a few times revelers were
carted away with blood-alcohol levels four to five times the legal limit for
driving. The president called the revels "a riot waiting to happen."

Many students, conversely, said the parties were just a good time to
socialize with friends. Most people have only a few drinks, students said.
"It's fun on Munn," said Laura Coatta, a senior. "Sure, some people get
obnoxious and out of hand. But they will do that anywhere they drink."

Mr. McPherson reacted to the riot this month by announcing efforts to
examine and combat alcohol abuse on campus. The state's "zero-tolerance" law
already empowers police to arrest anyone under 21 who has been drinking.

But Adam Herringa, a senior who helped organize the demonstration, said a
focus on alcohol abuse was too narrow. His main beef was with a series of
rules and restrictions that he and other students believe had been imposed
with too little student involvement. The Munn Field ban was just the latest,
he said. Several students also said the riot might not have erupted if
police had not closed the field and confronted students.

Bruce L. Benson, the campus police chief, called the tactic a non-violent
show of force that was necessary to control the crowd. He closed the field,
he said, because he had heard that students planned to bring in alcohol. "If
the message had been 'Let's take pizzas and Pepsis and go have a protest on
Munn Field,' we would have helped facilitate them in doing that."

Many students consider the alcohol ban at Munn "anti-student." The field is
the most popular tailgate spot among students -- and now is the only one
where alcohol is banned. Alumni and donors will still be able to drink at
their own gathering places, said students, who add that adults, too, can get
drunk and rowdy. But Mr. Benson said no other tailgate spot has had as many
problems as Munn.

"We don't care about the age of the people," he said. "The issue is the
behavior."

One reason Munn has problems, officials said, is its size. At 10.5 acres,it
has room for 1,200 cars. Except for a few Saturdays in the fall, the field
is used for intramural sports. Ground crews must work weekends after
football games to clean up glass and debris so that intramural games
scheduled for Mondays can be played.

President McPherson and Chief Benson said they had asked student leaders
several times to suggest solutions to problems at Munn Field. Last month,
they invited four student groups to attend the annual meeting of police and
university administrators, at which the merits of a ban were discussed. Only
one of the groups sent a representative. Mr. McPherson said he was not sure
that more communication would have persuaded students in general to accept
the ban, but he acknowledged that he might have pushed harder to have
students attend the meeting.

For their part, students said the Munn ban was not the only rule that had
dampened popular traditions. Last fall, for example, the administration had
cut the period during which students move into dormitories, called "Welcome
Week," from a week to a few days. Mr. Benson said the two weekends had
turned into a time for freshmen to learn how to drink.

Students have also complained about restrictions that East Lansing has
placed on rental houses, such as limiting the number of unrelated students
who can live together. Students said the administration should intercede.

"It wasn't just a protest about drinking," said Laurie Denby, a freshman.
"It was everything they keep slapping on us. It's No, No, No."

Anytime a privilege is taken away, students said, people will rebel. Some
students added that banning alcohol would just make it more attractive.

Those 21 and over can drink in dormitory rooms at Michigan State, but the
university has no pub or liquor store on the campus. Mr. McPherson knows
that plenty of students will still drink themselves silly at off-campus
bars, but he does not want to appear to endorse underage drinking.

The president said he would not back down from the ban at Munn. "The
demonstration made the point on why Munn was potentially an explosion
point," he said.

But more rules aren't necessarily the solution, he added, noting that people
need to find a balance between rights and responsibilities. He has announced
that Michigan State will have an alcohol-free dormitory next year. He also
has said he will appoint a committee, which will include students, to
discuss alcohol abuse and hold public forums.

Mr. McPherson hopes to persuade the committee to view alcohol as a
public-health issue about which attitudes can be changed, just as they began
to be changed a generation ago about drunk driving. One way, he believes, is
to educate students widely and clearly about the dangers posed by excessive
drinking, especially for women. "If you have strong feelings about
acquaintance rape, you should be concerned about excessive drinking," he
said.

He sent an e-mail message to all students last week, inviting them to share
their thoughts.

Nate Smith-Tyge, a leader in student government, said that the riot may end
up having a positive effect if it brings all sectors of the university to
the same table.

"There is no simple answer to alcohol misuse or student involvement," he
said. "It is something we need to sit down and discuss."

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Chronicle of Higher Education

Checked-by: "R. Lake"