Students: MSU must take stand on MCRI

By Holly Klaft and Lindsay Machak (Last updated: 08/28/09 6:25pm) MSU students are asking university officials to denounce Proposal 2 after confronting administrators at Friday's MSU Board of Trustees meeting.

About 125 students flooded into the board room with posters and black bandannas tied around their mouths to signify feeling silenced. The students' plan was to address the board about its response to the affirmative action ban, which makes the use of race- and gender-based preferences in university admissions and government hiring and contracting illegal.

The students took control of the microphone before the public comment portion of the meeting.

Groups and individuals wishing to speak during public comment must submit a Request to Address form to the board, according to the MSU Board of Trustees Web site. The board has tried to be flexible about when Request to Address forms must be submitted, university spokesman Terry Denbow said, adding that he didn't know the specific rules.

Allison Barber, secretary to the MSU Board of Trustees, who organizes the public comment portion, did not return State News phone calls Monday night.

If approved, speakers are allotted time during the public comment portion, which takes place at the end of each board meeting. During public comment, groups are allotted 15 minutes and individuals are allotted five minutes to speak unless the board approves a time extension.

Students took the microphone because they were dissatisfied with the amount of time the board allotted them to speak, history senior Francesco Aimone said.

"We did not come as a group, and the board wanted to assume anyone there with dark skin was part of a group or that they were going to say the same thing," Aimone said.

Students were offered five minutes each to speak as individuals, but the request was denied after about 50 students expressed interest in speaking, Aimone said.

Trustee Dorothy Gonzales said board members were unprepared for the number of students who showed up and wanted to address the board at the meeting.

"I think we try to give people reasonable time to put their concerns forward," Gonzales said. "We try to give five minutes depending on how many people were there, but it was hard to do that with so many kids.

"You can't have that much time unless we talked to the students first and said 'OK we can sit down for an hour.'"

Lee June, vice president for student affairs and services, said students intended to voice concerns to university administrators but it was not a good forum for discussion or dialogue.

Students had already taken control of the meeting and were voicing their concerns when Trustee Joel Ferguson answered his cell phone.

"Why he would ever do that is beyond me," Aimone said. "It was incredibly disrespectful and shows the trustees are hostile toward students and don't care about their concerns."

Ferguson said he picked up his phone briefly to tell the caller he would call back later, adding that he would have done the same in other meeting situations.

"There was just one student who was very disrespectful to the board and made a big deal about (answering the phone)," he said. Ferguson would not comment further on the phone call and said he was "putting the whole issue to bed."

Students can be assured that MSU is very interested in the issue and their concerns, Ferguson said. He added that he donated money to help defeat Proposal 2.

The Lansing Democrat donated $10,000 to Michigan's Democratic State Central Committee, according to campaign finance reports. The committee helped fund Democratic candidates in the November election. The party was outspoken in its opposition to Proposal 2.

He also said he met with students after the meeting to further discuss how the university will continue to promote diversity, but did not give the specifics of those plans.

University officials have agreed to discuss the issue with students but have not set a specific date, and students are still waiting for officials to publicly denounce the proposal.

"We need reassurance that somebody will stand behind the students of this university 100 percent," said Claudia Gonzalez, an interdisciplinary studies in community relations senior.

Several students compared MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon's response to the proposal's passage, which came in the form of a letter posted on her blog, to that of University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman, who spoke to students on U-M's campus the day after the proposal passed.

Coleman told U-M students the university would participate in a lawsuit against the affirmative action ban and would work to ensure Proposal 2 does not affect them. MSU students said they are seeking the same reassurance from Simon.

Simon could not be reached for comment Monday night.

Administrators recognize students' fears and apprehensions but want to reassure them that Proposal 2 should not adversely impact university admissions and the hiring of faculty and staff, said Paulette Granberry Russell, senior adviser to the president on diversity and director of the Office of Affirmative Action, Compliance and Monitoring.

"Our goal is to recruit in ways that encourage diverse applicants to apply at MSU," Granberry Russell said.

Holly Klaft can be reached at klafthol@msu.edu. Lindsay Machak can be reached at machakli@msu.edu.

Originally Published: 11/14/06 12:00am