The one-time discussion would be part of the plea agreement as ordered by the prosecuting official, said Nancy Moylan, East Lansing 54-B District Court administrator.

“If (the students) do not successfully participate, then they risk losing their plea agreement or answering to the judge on why they did not complete their sentencing conditions,” she said.

The discussion, which focuses on the impact of a student’s arrest and support afterward, is not a punishment and will not appear on student records, said Pat Enos, the assistant vice president for student affairs and services.

“It’s expressly not a slap on the wrist. … That is not the intent,” she said. “The university does know you’re here and, to some degree, what you do off campus does matter to us.”

Enos declined to reveal the discussion leader’s identity, but said a new position wasn’t created and the leader is coming from within the university’s staff. The discussion leader will be paid hourly for time put into the position, creating some “nominal” costs to the university, Enos said. She would not disclose those costs.

No-preference freshman Savannah Bushman said peer pressure could provoke underage drinking on campus and discussions might help students.

“I could be drinking my first time and get caught when I first come on campus,” she said. “Talking to people about that, I think that it actually really helps some people.”

The university is getting involved because of a request from the city of East Lansing that there be responsiveness from MSU when these incidents occur on campus and in the city, Enos said.

MSU is partnering with the city of East Lansing to complete the program and City Manager Ted Staton said discussions might prevent students from getting involved in alcohol-related incidents again.

“This just seemed to make sense in terms of another partnership,” he said. “We could intervene early in the academic careers of people who had run afoul of the law.”

AID is meant to be supportive and educational, said Lee June, vice president for student affairs and services.

“First-year students get in contact with the law enforcement and they can learn some things from it and recover and go on to have a productive semester and year and academic career at MSU,” he said.

Alcohol-related offenses are common in the fall, East Lansing police Capt. Kim Johnson said.

“Freshmen coming on campus, being away from home, we do have alcohol-related offenses,” he said. “Of course that happens.”

Enos said AID is a different program than other similar ones on college campuses in the state.

The University of Michigan has a program called Alternative Conflict Resolution for Alcohol/Other Drug-Related Incidents through the Office of Student Conflict Resolution, which acts in a similar manner to MSU’s AID.

It also involves discussions about the related incident, but places students under no obligation to pursue its pathway.

Increases in alcohol-related activities during the first weeks of the U-M semester are obvious, said Diane Brown, a public information officer with the Department of Public Safety at U-M.

“Students don’t often have pressing deadlines and there’s that whole issue of social activity is high during that time,” she said.

Students will have to contact the MSU Department of Student Affairs and Services to set up a discussion as part of the ruling and Enos estimates about 200 students might come in the six weeks, ending Oct.11.