Take a bunch of college meatheads, throw in a couple of cops armed with tear gas threatening the kids’ freedom to booze, and you’ve got yourself a riot. Sound familiar? It looks like our friends over at Michigan State had a regular 12th Avenue brouhaha last weekend.About 3,000 people clashed with local police officers early Saturday morning after a huge bonfire had been set in one of East Lansing’s busiest intersections. The cops fired tear gas to disperse the unruly Spartans, while firefighters extinguished the inferno.The chaos stemmed from the university’s decision to ban alcohol from a tailgating hot spot, leaving the ex-high school jocks nowhere to down their Natty Light before Saturday football games.Interestingly enough, three ex-Ohio State students received a nice little settlement last week from the city of Columbus in a lawsuit they brought against the Columbus Division of Police for use of excessive force in the 1996 riots on 12th Avenue.The three, who were members of the local “Copwatch” organization, will now split $47,500 at the city’s expense. Talk about being at the right place at the right time.For those that weren’t around in 1996, a little background on the “12th Avenue riots” may be in order. The night started innocently enough. My roommates and I bought a few kegs and lined up our friend’s band to play on the porch. Turns out the complex across the street had the same idea, minus the bands. Complying with police recommendations, we set up a plastic fence around the house and hung the prerequisite “must be 21 to drink” signs. Easy enough. By midnight, the band was jamming, the crowd was dancing and all was copacetic.Enter the stormtroopers.Columbus police arrived in a getup that reminded me of the old Cobra characters from GI Joe. In full riot gear, wielding grenades and wooden-pellet shooting rifles, they lined up single file at the United Dairy Farmers store across from my house.Up to this point, there hadn’t been one fight, not one fire lit, or one bottle thrown. Apparently, the cops’ presence was enough to incite the anarchist in some of the street toughs and hilljacks who were drawn to the area, most of them not students. These were the bad apples that spoiled the bunch, the ones who decided that throwing bottles and setting furniture on fire was the only way to counter the police presence.What ensued was an all-out rampage as police on horseback and foot charging through 12th Avenue with shields and clubs. They tossed tear-gas grenades on student’s porches and sprayed mace at anyone in their path. It was a total state of disarray. One cop rang our doorbell and sprayed mace in my roommate’s face when he answered the door. One of my other friends was nursing a severe pellet wound to her calf. Our street was transformed into Saigon in a matter of minutes.I blame the cops for creating a climate of fear in the students that night, but I also blame the small group of jackasses that threw bottles and set fires. They perpetuated the image that was portrayed the next few days in the media, that the parties and the kids were out of control and the cops NEEDED to do something.The fact is, nothing got out of hand until the cops showed up, and once the initial crowd was cleared, there was no reason for police to fire chemical weapons at people’s houses once they were indoors. There were many students besides Chris Wisniewksi, Walter Leake and Shamus Jones who were maced, roughed and even detained for no reason. These three are the only ones who pursued action and were compensated for their turmoil. Good for them, they made more in a day than most recent graduates make in a year.Situations like the 12th Avenue incident are reoccurring across college campuses. The solution to these problems isn’t easy, but a more open relationship between police and students is probably a good starting point. The cops need to accept the fact that students are going to drink, and should take it easy on the ones who are doing so in a responsible manner. Treating students like they are in concentration camp isn’t going to alleviate any tensions. On the other hand, students need to learn better methods of dealing with the law than burning their Salvation Army couches.
Jamie Pietras is a graduating senior who’s still nursing a pellet wound to the buttocks.
