The student group targeted by an MSU police undercover investigation probably will pursue filing a complaint with the university Department of Public Safety Oversight Committee, a Students for Economic Justice member said Thursday.

MSU president M. Peter McPherson and police Assistant Chief Jim Dunlap have urged the group to address concerns about the investigation to the committee of three students, three faculty and three staff members.

“I don’t really know what good it’ll do, but it’s an option that shouldn’t be ignored, especially since it was offered to us,” said history senior Michael Krueger, a member of the officially registered group. “Hopefully we’ll do it sometime next week.”

More than a year ago, an MSU police officer posed as a student to become a member of the group, then known as the United Students Against Sweatshops at MSU. Officials said the move was to gather information about whether a May 2000 commencement speech by World Bank President James Wolfensohn could lead to violent protests.

Although many legal experts say the operation was probably legal, some members of Students for Economic Justice say the investigation was an intimidation tactic.

If group members choose to pursue a complaint with the oversight committee, it would be the first of its kind that Sharon Tyree, the committee’s chairwoman, has heard of.

Tyree, who’s served on the committee since 1999, has been checking the complaint hotline since she heard the group was urged to address the body.

The voluntary committee, which is part of the university’s Academic Governance system, usually handles complaints from the public about officers’ actions - ranging from charges of rudeness to misconduct. It then issues its findings, along with a recommendation, to MSU police Chief Bruce Benson.

“But we don’t have any (legal) authority,” said Tyree, a secretary in the English Department and member of MSU’s Clerical-Technical Union. “We can’t punish them or anything like that.”

The committee does examine documents and take testimony during its investigations, however. In its last major report to MSU police, the oversight committee issued an eight-page letter of findings and recommendations to Benson about police conduct during the May 1, 1998, Munn field riot.

“We mostly found they didn’t act inappropriately,” said labor relations Professor John Revitte, who has sat on the committee since 1999.

The committee has met sporadically as complaints have arisen since then - issuing a finding of facts to the department and complainant each time.

“But it really is a recommendation to the department or Chief Benson to change a decision or do something,” Revitte said.

Police administration do take those recommendations seriously, though they may not always agree, said MSU police Capt. Dale Metts, the department liaison with the committee.

“They have differed in the past and the chief discusses that with them,” he said.

Metts helps committee members gather evidence, but does not participate with the group while members discuss complaints.

Meetings are not open to the public.

While some Students for Economic Justice members say taking their case to the committee is an option that shouldn’t be ignored, one student member of the oversight committee said he thinks any allegations of misconduct because of the undercover investigation should be taken up by a different body.

“This is something bigger than that,” said Kendall Sykes, ASMSU Student Assembly chairperson. “This isn’t just a recommendation.”

Sykes, MSU’s undergraduate student government representative to the committee, said he feels a court is better equipped to deal with the issue.

“None of us are lawyers, none of us are trained to deal with this,” Sykes said.

“That’s a bigger issue than I feel I can tackle.”