When a three-member panel convenes to review a campus police undercover investigation of a campus activist group, it will have more than the facts of the operation to examine.

MSU President M. Peter McPherson, who appointed the panel Tuesday, has expressed that the review committee will also delve into campus public opinion about the investigation. And that opinion seems to vary, leaving the group to put together a patchwork of views on the situation.

“I would say it’s typical of MSU representatives,” psychology senior Andrea Carroll said about the investigation. “There’s a lot of underhanded stuff I personally believe goes on.”

MSU police have said they placed an undercover officer into Students for Economic Justice, a campus activist group then known as United Students Against Sweatshops, for about four months beginning Feb. 19, 2000.

Police have also said the officer was sent to another area group’s meeting after the investigation into the campus group ended.

University officials cite protests in Seattle and at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as well as the New Year’s Eve 1999 arson of Agriculture Hall as reasons for starting the investigation.

Police also targeted a “specific, identified subject” at group meetings relating to the arson, officials said.

Carroll said those reasons are not enough to convince her an undercover investigation was necessary.

“I personally think that group is harmless,” she said. “I kind of understand the precaution, but they went a little overboard in the logic and reasoning.”

Ilana Bruton, an interdisciplinary humanities junior, agrees. She said officials’ reasoning for the investigation is not enough, although she said public safety issues should be addressed.

“Yeah, that is a concern,” she said. “But at the same time, concentrate on the good this group is doing, too.”

Bruton said she was upset that the investigation could have a negative effect on an already apathetic campus.

But not all students take such a hard line. Electrical engineering freshman Justin Byers said he understands the reasoning behind the investigation and doesn’t think police wrongfully invaded the group.

Byers also said the threat of such an investigation shouldn’t impact campus activism as long as groups are operating within the law.

“It seems the only people deterred would be those who wanted to break the law,” he said. “I can’t see it stopping me from joining an on-campus group.”

And economics freshman Kevin White said he supports the decision as an effort to ensure public safety.

“I think if they look out for what’s best for the university and what’s best for Michigan State to protect its students, it’s necessary,” he said. “But if they were just digging for dirt it was wrong.”

Despite the reasoning, however, police should have been more forthright with the group, said Jesse Wright, a mechanical engineering freshman.

“We’re college students,” he said. “We’re here to learn how to be adults, not just academically, but all through life.

“I think they could have had meetings with them or have a class on proper demonstration, but they didn’t have to do that.”