A discussion at Tuesday’s East Lansing City Council meeting about an increase in noise violations quickly turned into a debate about alcohol issues - with MSU students at the root of the controversy.

City police reported a 32-percent increase in noise violations from last year, leaving council members, residents and MSU students debating the cause of the problem and possible solutions. But those who spoke were quick to come back to one thing: alcohol.

“If we could get alcohol out of society, we would be much better,” East Lansing police Chief Louis Muhn said. “I know a tremendous amount of alcohol is consumed in this community.”

And although many people who spoke were quick to say MSU students were not the cause of all the noise problems in the city, some city officials put the responsibility for fixing the problem on the shoulders of the university and student government.

Councilmember Bill Sharp said MSU’s undergraduate student government must initiate the move to solve the noise issue. He told ASMSU officials they need to be out knocking on doors and giving warnings about out-of-hand parties.

“You being student leaders have a real responsibility,” Sharp said. “I think you’re missing the boat here. I really do.”

Sharp also advocated MSU notify parents when students have alcohol violations and approve an off-campus code of conduct for students. Such a code would allow university officials to punish students for behavior in the city.

After the March 28-29, 1999, riot, the Board of Trustees approved a policy to allow officials to suspend students involved in off-campus riots, but avoided a broad conduct policy.

ASMSU Student Assembly Chairperson Matt Weingarden told council members it’s not necessary to point fingers at anyone and encouraged the city be actively involved with students.

“I really want to suggest to this body to take the lead. It has to be a team effort on this one,” he said. “We’ve been taking way too much time looking at who’s to blame,”

But Councilmember Beverly Baten also advocated the university get involved because she said ASMSU has no power to deal with the issue.

“They have a strong voice on campus, but they don’t have the power that administration does,” Baten said. “They are in the right place as a group, but we can’t have students attempting conflict management with drunk students.”

Baten said she has personally seen an increase in alcohol-related problems while on police ride-a-longs, where she witnessed police breaking up parties and giving noise violation tickets.

“It’s an issue that keeps coming back and we have to address it,” she said. “Residents are tired of being the police. If your parents wouldn’t put up with this, why would anyone else have to?”

Other city officials were quick to point out that students are doing many positive things off campus.

“I hesitate to categorize the source of the noise,” Muhn said. “It’s across the board.”

Muhn said many of the noise complaints police receive actually are from students reporting improper behavior. And he said past incidents have proven many people who aren’t students cause problems within East Lansing.

“We know that from the riots of ’99 that slightly under 50 percent of the people we arrested had no affiliation with the university,” he said.

And while some people say the noise problem in East Lansing has increased since last year, MSU Chief of Police Jim Dunlap said there have been fewer alcohol-related offenses on campus.

“We were pleasantly surprised,” he said. “I do think it’s interesting that people sometimes attribute fault to students, and I don’t know if that is always the case. It gets too easy to make a generalization.”

But East Lansing resident Jan Pylar said she’s losing sleep because of the behavior of some renters in East Lansing.

“At this time I go to bed with a Walkman, headphones and four pillows,” she said. “At one point I loved living in this neighborhood and now I’m counting the days to get out.”

ASMSU Director of Community Affairs Kevin Glandon offered possible causes and solutions to the problem of noise. He said the city needs to be more proactive in working with students to solve problems.

Glandon also recommended the city implement a community-standards system like the one used in MSU’s residence halls, where students are empowered to come up with rules for their floor and enforce them.

“We’d like to let students know that it’s their right to study,” he said. “We’re also looking at MSU creating a larger off-campus office.”

Glandon also said the city should do more to get students to register their parties with police and tell them doing so won’t “red flag” the parties to be targeted.

East Lansing Mayor Mark Meadows said the session will serve as a starting point for future decisions by the city council. City Manager Ted Staton said he will have recommendations about the matter for council approval within a month.

Dan Kittle, Community Relations Coalition president, said the entire community must work as a team to solve the issue.

“As a community we have been hinting at the stance that it’s OK to hate students,” he said. “We can’t tackle student issues unless we involve students.”