Police actions on the night of April 2-3 were unnecessarily forceful and likely increased student distrust, MSU administrator Lee June told the independent commission looking into the disturbances.

On Friday, the commission heard testimony from Vice President for Student Affairs and Services June and eight of his colleagues, who gave their firsthand accounts of the events they witnessed after the men's basketball team's loss to the University of North Carolina.

The nine colleagues were part of a group of about 15 university officials who took to the streets of East Lansing on April 2 to observe student reaction to the loss.

"There was nothing that I would qualify as disruptive or violent behavior," said Cathy Neuman, assistant director of Student Life at MSU, who was downtown near the corner of Albert and M.A.C. avenues during the disturbances with Karen Casey, director of the Center for Service-Learning and Civic Engagement.

Casey said a canister of tear gas was fired directly at her feet, despite the fact she was wearing a badge identifying her as an MSU official.

All nine reported feeling the effects of tear gas.

"What we saw (from students) downtown at the corner of M.A.C. and Albert was responsible," Casey said, adding that although she saw students drinking in the street, she saw no one throw any projectiles.

Other members of the group reported seeing students pepper sprayed at point-blank range, police fire tear gas at groups of one or two students and officers refuse to identify themselves, as well as other questionable behaviors.

"Yours has been the most disturbing report of the events of anything I have seen yet," commissioner and ACLU representative Joe Tuchinsky told the officials.

Tuchinsky and East Lansing Mayor Mark Meadows recommended the officials file official complaints with the police department. East Lansing police Chief Tom Wibert said he would investigate any complaints he receives.

"There are things that happened that night that shouldn't have happened," Wibert said, reiterating an apology he made to the commission two meetings ago. "For the people who were mistreated by an officer ? We are sorry for that."

In the future, East Lansing police officers will wear identification to make them more accountable for their actions, Wibert said.

"That didn't happen, and we need to fix that," he said.

Friday's meeting, which ran nearly one and a half hours long with the emotional testimonies and questioning of the commissioners, began with a report from members of the MSU celebrations committee who have been studying student behavior in an effort to prevent future disturbances.

The celebration committee was formed in 2003 by then-Provost MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon to bring university and East Lansing officials together, said Ginny Haas, director of Community Relations at MSU and co-chair of the committee.

University officials gave students the impression that as long as they celebrated responsibly on the night of April 2, nothing would happen to them, Haas said.

"This event really caused a very serious breach of trust," she said. "By all measurable accounts, the vast majority of (students) did act responsibly."

A number of her colleagues, including June, echoed the sentiment that they would have given students a different message if they had been better informed of what the police were planning.

Wibert agreed that poor communication between university, city and police officials prior to the disturbances caused a number of the problems that night.

Dennis Martell, a health educator at Olin Health Center, characterized the police department's goal as preventing crowds from gathering and behaving destructively, and said the university's goal was to promote responsible celebration. Wibert disagreed with that assessment, saying responsible celebration was his ultimate goal.

"However, what was going on that night was not a responsible celebration ... We got beyond that point and had to take action," he said.

Martell, who has conducted scientific surveys of MSU students, said 90 percent of those who responded to a recent survey thought students acted responsibly that night, and 99 percent said they disapprove of rioting.

The celebrations committee had asked the city to sponsor an event downtown, Haas said, but City Manager Ted Staton refused.

"Downtown is not an appropriate place for a celebratory event for a variety of reasons," Deputy City Manager Jean Golden said.

When the city agreed to close down Grand River Avenue in 1999, it only contributed to the problem, Meadows said.

"What we did, is we allowed the accumulation of such a large number of people that the crowd grew very quickly out of control," he said.

Past events held on campus were not successful, Haas said, and all their data indicates that students do not want an event on campus. But if students did express an interest in an event, the university would be willing to sponsor one, she said.

"Our position will continue to be that the students will drive an event," she said.

Meadows said he doesn't believe the celebrations committee has a clear indication of student interest, and there needs to be more student input into planning some kind of university- or city-sponsored event.

As Friday's meeting drew to a close, commissioner Derek Wallbank recommended the commission recognize some wrongdoing on the part of the police.

"There were actions by the police officers on that night that were categorically inappropriate," Wallbank said. "I don't think that we as a commission have been clear on this point."

The commission has yet to take any action on the recommendation.

"The specific charge of the commission was not to point the finger, the blame, at anyone," Meadows said.