East Lansing officials and MSU students gathered in a classroom Monday to discuss the qualities of an ideal community.

Family and child ecology Professor Rosemary Walker invited city officials to speak to her class in an effort to further communication between the two groups.

East Lansing City Councilmember Beverly Baten led the four-person panel of city officials, which included East Lansing City Clerk Sharon Reid, Code Enforcement Specialist Bob Dutcher and parking and code enforcement Sgt. Patty Nowak.

Understanding the relationship between East Lansing residents, students and city officials is one way Walker plans to help alleviate community tension.

"You can't talk about improving in a community without improving the families and vice versa," Walker said. "So when we talk about all the things that are wrong in the world, a good place to start is in the community, or your next-door neighbor."

Some students said they would also like to see an improvement in relations.

"It would be nice if there could be a compromise between the two groups," said Hannah Colegrove, a family community services junior. "Obviously this is a heavily student-populated area. While there are residents, both need to be respected.

"It needs to be equal."

Colegrove called on community commissions and boards that serve with the "MSU student council to work together to bridge the gap between the young people and the older people of the community."

During the course's first meeting, Walker asked the students to list the top five characteristics that an ideal community exhibits.

The class, Community as Context for Individual and Family Development, analyzes how individuals and families interact within a community.

Good resident behavior topped the list, followed by cleanliness, diversity, community organizations and activities.

"The city of East Lansing, in all those categories, is number one," Baten said.

Walker said Baten was "very receptive and very open about what the city council does and about interacting with students" to try to improve relationships between students and permanent residents.

Communication between city officials and students should help to quell an attitude expressed by some students, that if permanent residents don't like student life, they should leave town, Walker said.

"A lot of people have (left East Lansing)," Walker said.

But the taxes paid by permanent residents are needed to fund city schools, roads and trash services, she said.

"It's because people live here that we can afford these community services," Walker said.