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While most students relish graduation, some protest

December 13, 2014

When third-year law student Emily Gillingham heard MSU had chosen author and newspaper columnist George Will to speak at commencement and receive an honorary doctoral degree, she thought it had to be a joke.

But it was no joke.

Gillingham said she decided to organize a protest on Facebook to put pressure on the university for their choice and since doing so, it snowballed. Gillingham and others decided to protest in response to controversial statements Will made in the past about sexual assault and rape, claiming that college rape statistics were exaggerated.

“I couldn’t stand by and not participate in a countermovement,” Gillingham said.

A sizable group of students, faculty members and members of the community came together outside of the Jack Breslin Student Events Center on Saturday morning to protest before commencement began. Spectators had expected more than 800, since that number had responded to the invitation on the event's Facebook Page.

Nursing professor Roxane Chan was one of the professors who chose to stand alongside students and other faculty members to protest Will speaking.

"(Professors) set the example. We're supposed to show the students how to walk forward in life," Chan said. "This is a wonderfully orchestrated protest which shows that you can have a voice in a way that makes a difference." 

The protesters held signs and passed out informational fliers to those entering the commencement ceremony. There was no loud chanting or disruptive behavior.

Chan said a lot of the commentary from people attending the commencement was positive, with only a few people against the protesters.

Many of the protesters congratulated students entering the Breslin Center who were wearing caps and gowns.

Among the student protesters was interdisciplinary humanities senior Spencer Perrenoud, who was set to graduate later that day.

Perrenoud, wearing his cap and gown, said he chose to protest because he felt he couldn't stand with the administration's decision.

“This is so not timely with the university being under investigation,” Perrenoud said. “I don’t know what they’re thinking when they (did) this.”

Gillingham said she couldn’t believe how insensitive MSU could be by inviting someone who believes something “that could not be more wrong.”

Last June, Will wrote a column for The Washington Post arguing that “victimhood (is) a coveted status that confers privileges," referring to sexual assault victims.

“I’m ashamed and upset they would choose George Will to speak at this time,” Gillingham said.

During the spring semester of 2014, MSU became one of many universities under federal investigation for how rape cases were handled.

Despite MSU choosing not to cancel Will’s presence at commencement, Gillingham and other students said they hope the protest forces MSU to be more sensitive in the future.

“I don’t want to be part of a campus community that mistreats survivors of sexual assault,” Gillingham said.

University officials have maintained that Will was chosen to speak because of his reputation as a pulitzer prize winning journalist, not because of any one view he holds as an individual.

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During a Board of Trustees meeting Friday, MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon said the university is often criticized as not being open to conservative viewpoints, and was hoping to have a balanced pool of commencement speakers. 

For those who did not feel comfortable attending the graduation ceremony at the Breslin Center, a separate commencement was to be held at the Kiva in Erickson Hall.

Though not sponsored by the university, faculty members and students were said to be organizing the event.

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