A student suspended for his alleged involvement in the March 28-30 disturbances has been allowed to go back to class.

Tyler Barrett, an interdisciplinary studies junior arrested March 28 for charges of obstructing justice and public intoxication, said Thursday his suspension was lifted.

He's been attending class this week and also has been to the Main Library. Barrett said he missed eight days of class.

He said after he met with officials and told them his story, they let him go back to class. The suspension's lift is temporary until he meets again for his judicial hearing. He wasn't sure when that will be.

Lee June, vice president for student affairs, didn't return phone calls Thursday to explain why Barrett was reinstated.

On April 4, Barrett said a university official, accompanied by a police officer, delivered a letter of suspension to his house in East Lansing when he wasn't home. He said they attempted to contact him by calling him at his Harbor Springs home.

University officials met with Barrett a week after his suspension. Students who have been suspended have a right to appeal the suspensions.

When suspended, students cannot attend class and are only allowed to step on campus during meetings with officials.

Last week, MSU President M. Peter McPherson said all suspensions had been looked at with great care.

"These individual cases have to be looked at," he said.

University spokesman Terry Denbow said the appeals process gives the process more merit.

He said he couldn't comment on Barrett's case because of student protection laws.

"I know some people wanted something more swift or dramatic, but I think due process is guaranteed," Denbow said.

But Henry Silverman, president of the Lansing chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said the lifted suspension doesn't necessarily prove the process is working.

"Perhaps it proves that the suspension was so egregious that the students and the appeals group could recognize it," Silverman said.

"The process is imperfect."

Members of the ACLU have been against the suspension of students for off-campus activities since the Board of Trustees decided a student can be punished by the university on campus for off-campus activity. The decision came following the March 27-28, 1999 riots.

Students shouldn't be punished until they have had their day in court, Silverman said.

At least one student suspended following the March 27-28, 1999 riots was reinstated a few weeks later.

All but one student allegedly involved in this year's disturbances has been arraigned, but law officials said the trials might not be completed until the summer or later.

Silverman said one parent of a suspended student approached the union last week for advice. Union members told the parent not to have their child appeal the university's suspension because they could incriminate themselves during the process.

"That's the issue. Not whether occasionally the verdicts are overturned," Silverman said. "How can a student defend himself appropriately if what he says can hurt him when he faces the charges against him in East Lansing? It's impossible."