Two groups to review MSU police actions

Two independent reviews will get under way immediately regarding the use of an undercover police officer in a Department of Police and Public Safety (DPPS) investigation last year, the University announced April 18.

The MSU Police and Public Safety Oversight Committee, an independent committee that monitors DPPS procedures and actions, will assess whether DPPS followed its procedures and took appropriate action.

The committee includes three students, three faculty members and three staff members, all of whom are appointed by campus governing groups.

The findings and recommendations of the committee are submitted to the chief of the Department of Police and Public Safety and will also be made public.

In addition, President Peter McPherson has asked three individuals with commendable public service records -- Russell Mawby, Lynne Martinez and Norman Abeles -- to conduct a thorough and independent review of the entire matter.

Mawby is chairperson emeritus of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and a former chairperson of the MSU Board of Trustees. Martinez, a former state representative, now serves as director of the Capital Area Youth Alliance. Abeles is a professor of psychology, director of MSU's Psychological Clinic and chairperson of the MSU Executive Committee of Academic Council.

This three-person group, which sought public comment at its first meeting on April 25, will focus its inquiry on institutional policies regarding DPPS practices and the facts and circumstances surrounding the decision to place an undercover officer in a student group.

The group will issue a full public report to President McPherson and to campus groups.

"I am genuinely concerned about this set of issues. MSU must be a community of open inquiry. These matters demand a difficult balance," McPherson said. "As an educational institution, we are obligated to review these matters.

"The objective is to conduct an impartial and independent review of the specifics of this situation and provide recommendations for the future," McPherson said.

Last year, an undercover police officer from DPPS was assigned to attend and participate in a public meeting of United Students Against Sweatshops. The MSU Department of Police and Public Safety recently announced that the officer's continued presence at these meetings helped focus the investigation on a specific identified subject of the investigation into the Dec. 31, 1999, fire at Agriculture Hall.

Recent newspaper reports have raised concerns about this decision and other police actions surrounding student demonstrations and protests.

Both investigative groups are expected to complete their work within 100 days, with the three-person review committee report following the oversight committee report.