Two MSU students who are selling T-shirts with a statement about the East Lansing Police Department's actions in the April 2-3 disturbances had a police encounter of their own on Tuesday.
Evan Dashe, an accounting junior, and Anthony Saladino, a general management freshman, were wearing the shirts and holding up a sign advertising them on Tuesday afternoon by Beaumont Tower but were not selling them, they said.
The T-shirts have the slogan, "Tear gas is not designed to extinguish fires" printed on the front and a derogatory message for the East Lansing Police Department on back.
Two MSU police officers on bicycles confronted the students after they had been advertising for a few minutes and told them they needed a license to sell or advertise anything on campus, Dashe said.
No citations were issued, but the officers told the two students they would arrest them if they were seen displaying the shirts again, Dashe said.
The T-shirt entrepreneurs complied with the officers' request to move, but Dashe said he was still confused as to what offense they had committed.
"I didn't feel like I was doing anything wrong," he said. "We're students - it's not like someone just came on campus to sell stuff."
Police estimate 3,000 people crowded in Cedar Village after the men's basketball team lost to the University of North Carolina in the Final Four. Police say 1,500 gathered in downtown East Lansing. About 130 tear-gas canisters were used by East Lansing police.
MSU police Sgt. Florene McGlothian-Taylor said reports of the incident won't be available until later in the week.
Terry Livermore, manager of University Licensing, said that in order to sell anything on campus, a student must be sponsored by a registered student organization and get permission from several university departments, including the Department of Student Life.
"It's kind of a quality-control measure that we apply," Livermore said. "We review not only the vendor but the artwork to make sure it's suitable, appropriate and our ownership rights are declared in the item."
Saladino and Dashe said they don't have a license but were going to look into applying for one.
Saladino said about 50 T-shirts have been sold online so far.
East Lansing Deputy police Chief Tom Wibert said he has not seen the T-shirts but said they fall under the students' right to free speech.
"People have the right to publish their opinion about the East Lansing Police Department whether it's in the newspaper or on the back of a shirt," Wibert said.
But that doesn't mean he hopes the shirts become a fashion statement on campus, he said.
"Hopefully, there's not a market for those," Wibert said.
