While he was staying with his mother in Connecticut a couple years ago, Peter Roby told a group of students and administrators in afterHOURS Friday, he witnessed a man assaulting a woman across the street.

Though he did not know the couple, the director of the Center for the Student of Sport in Society made the quick decision to try and help the woman.

“I got out of my chair, I opened that door, and I started to yell at the person who was perpetrating that crime,” Roby said.

Roby said the group, brought to the on-campus club by Student Government Association President Michael Romano, was now becoming “part of the solution.” He said he hoped the students would help Northeastern find a way to deal with the incidents that occurred after the New England Patriots won the Super Bowl last Sunday, and the media attention that followed.

Romano set up a six-person panel to talk to students, address their concerns and take their suggestions after the university came under fire last week from city officials.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino and City Councilor Michael P. Ross cited universities as shouldering part of the blame for the post-game incidents.

What university officials said shifted the focus away from the crowds in Allston and Kenmore Square was the hit-and-run accident on the corner of Symphony Road and St. Stephen Street that killed James D. Grabowski, 21, of West Newbury, and injured three others.

“I think a lot of student leaders have felt really frustrated that this event was a reflection of the integrity and the character of all the students,” Romano said.

The Government Relations Office had already received many complaints from neighbors to the university throughout the academic year about the rowdiness of the students.

After Sunday’s events, the office was flooded with even more calls.

“Rebuilding and refocusing our community on who we are and what we want to be and how we want the world to perceive us is the right focus,” said President Richard Freeland, who made a quick appearance early in the forum. “We need to find a way to reach out to our neighbors.”

Director for Community Relations Jeff Doggett, one of the panelists, said he would be working to restore Northeastern’s relationship with people in the surrounding area.

He echoed Roby’s remarks when he said there were no innocent bystanders.

“I think what all students need to be aware of here are although there are very few students who actually did the damage, a lot of students were on the street.” Doggett said.

Vice President for Student Affairs Ed Klotzbier also said that while “a couple of knuckleheads” were actually responsible for the vandalism, it is still the student body’s responsibility to deal with the problem.

“We have to police ourselves,” Klotzbier said. “We have to, as a community, come together and have a sense of responsibility.”

Klotzbier, a Northeastern alumnus, said when he was a student in the 1980s and the Huskies won the Beanpot or made it to the NCAA basketball tournament, no such violence occurred.

Other concerns expressed at the forum included Northeastern’s view in the eyes of co-op employers and the ability to obtain permits from the city for the Springfest concert in April.

The Northeastern University Police Department hopes to identify the students who were responsible for the damage through the use of photographs and video tapes throughout the coming weeks.

Three students were arrested on the scene Sunday night. Jason Shepherd, 20; Hamid D. Refai, 20; and Jonathan Diffehbach, 22, were charged with malicious destruction of property, Suffolk County District Attorney spokesman David Procopio said.

Still, Associate Director for Public Safety James Ferrier said the NUPD handled the post-game celebration effectively. Hemenway Street was closed to traffic immediately after the game, as part of a city-wide plan, and all of the cars on the street had been towed Sunday morning.

“People are free to walk out of a building and walk down the sidewalk,” Ferrier said. “You can’t prevent that from happening.”

To help on-lookers deal with the incidents and what they may have witnessed, the university is offering counseling to students and to community members.

“The spotlight is on Northeastern,” said Lisa Sinclair, the associate university counsel and one of the panelists, “and we need to step into that spotlight … and shine.”