Editor's note: The MSU students interviewed in the following story agreed to speak to The State News under terms of anonymity. They all are convicted sex offenders listed on the Michigan Public Sex Offender Registry.

At 14 years old, he decided between jail and the list.

Before he earned a driver's license, police charged the now-MSU sophomore with possession of cocaine and marijuana and the rape of a 6-year-old girl who attended his father's day care center, he said.

He faced at least 15 years behind bars for the drug offenses alone - a punishment he never wanted to face, he said.

Instead, prosecutors agreed to drop the drug charges and jail time in lieu of his signature on the Michigan Public Sex Offender Registry, he said. If convicted of all charges, he would have been listed anyway, alongside roughly 35,000 other Michigan sex offenders.

Required by the federal government, and enacted by the state in 1999, Michigan law enforcement catalogues the names, dates of birth and addresses of nearly all the state's living sex offenders. The public can freely browse the Internet registry, and at the beginning of 2005, a new search feature will show all students and employees at the state's public universities, said Charlotte Marshall, a State Police registry analyst.

Marshall said the registry is a powerful tool for Michigan police.

"It provides a database for law enforcement to investigate individuals," she said.

Each name is on the list for 25 years or more, depending on the crime's severity, Marshall said, adding that 10 or 20 years often does not allow enough time for offenders to rehabilitate. Also, many offenders falsely proclaim innocence, she said.

"They all lie because they recognize no boundaries," Marshall said. "You will very rarely find anyone that rehabilitates."

But the MSU sophomore claims neither guilt nor innocence.

"I'm not going to tell somebody if I did it or not," he said. "I'd like to think that what I stand for now, what I do now, is what's important, and a lot of people instantly think that means that I'm guilty, but it doesn't.

"I'd like to say that I'm not, but a lot of people won't believe it."

Since his arrest six years ago, he said he's changed. He earned good grades in high school, switched his group of friends and applied to the U.S. Air Force Academy and MSU.

MSU accepted him, but the academy refused to admit him because of his offense, he said.

After a year at the university, he said he is taking some time off from school to work and help pay for his new wife's college expenses. But he said he continues to think about his name cemented in cyberspace.

"I try not to, but it happens," he said. "It's almost instinctive. I don't even notice that I think about it - but it's always that element of judging everything I do, everything I say."

He said he doesn't attend parties, for fear of police run-ins, or participate in student groups because of the chance that others might recognize his name on the registry.

"It sounds stupid that you are hiding behind your name, but, honestly, if you want to do something later in life, all you have is your name," he said.

Already this year, his name spelled trouble when his apartment management nearly ousted him after finding his name on the registry. The landlords let him stay, but as a precaution, he and his wife registered all of the utility bills under her name.

His story is not uncommon.

In any given year, about 10 student sex offenders live in East Lansing, but few create repeated problems, East Lansing police Capt. Juli Liebler said.

"We haven't seen that," she said. "We always make sure that (the list) is up to date and that the people that are living in the city report as they're supposed to do."

One MSU senior has reported to the city police department four times a year for the past two years. He changed his residency to East Lansing after his 2002 criminal sexual conduct conviction.

"I couldn't move back home because my mom had friends who would periodically check the list," he said. "They would check the list to see who lived in their town."

At the same time, he said he almost lost his home at MSU.

In 2002, he lived in his fraternity house, but when housemates and fraternity alumni discovered the charge, he nearly lost his membership. The fraternity sentenced him to a semester of probation and community service but allowed him to stay in the house.

During the court proceedings, his grades fell and he lost motivation, he said. He also was forced to scrap his education major because sex offenders can't teach in public schools under Michigan law.

Since his conviction, he switched to studying the service industry and expects fewer roadblocks, he said.

"I want to manage a restaurant, and I know I can never go apply at Olive Garden, Red Lobster, McDonald's - any of these huge chains that do in-depth background checks," he said.

Although he needed to change his major, he said the university never disciplined or attempted to expel him.

But MSU's inactivity is opposite a recent action taken by North Harris Montgomery Community College District near Houston. On Dec. 2, the district acted to review and possibly bar students, employees and vendors connected to the university and convicted of sex crimes.

"A lot of us felt very uncomfortable to have this information and not do anything about it," said Sandra McMullan, general-counsel lawyer for the college district. "Everybody kind of gulped - our faculty and administrators - because community colleges really have a special mission to help people get back on their feet."

Henry Silverman, president of the Lansing branch of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, said the registry often includes names it shouldn't.

"Some people are on the list for very common, or not so serious, offenses," he said.

But Marshall, of the state police, said all convictions that lead to list registration are serious.

"There are really not that many minor things that can get you on the list," she said.

Misdemeanor offenses that can lead to list registration include approaching and speaking to children in a threatening way for immoral purposes, solicitation for an immoral act or prostitution and obscene conduct. Obscene conduct can include indecent exposure and urinating in public if police convict a person of the charges three separate times, said MSU police Detective Earl Barringer.

Although past students have questioned MSU for allowing sex offenders to enroll, university officials have no plans to bar students on the list, Barringer said.

"If they've served their time, there's nothing that prohibits them from attending the university and getting on with their life," he said.