ASMSU passed a bill Friday removing Great Issues, a group from its programming board, after an argument about a speaker the group paid to visit MSU.
The speaker, Joe Carr, reportedly made anti-Semitic and other hate speech comments last year, spurring the Jewish Students Union and the Arab Cultural Society to introduce a bill calling for the removal of Great Issues from the undergraduate student government.
After a meeting that wore on until after 2 a.m., ASMSU's Student Assembly removed the group for bringing "events which actually promote mistrust, hatred and even violence toward minorities on campus," the bill stated.
Great Issues was a 17-member facet of the programing board. It, however, lacked a mission statement, a constitution and had a somewhat nebulous membership, making it difficult to figure out who exactly was in the group. Despite the group's lack of a proper declaration of purpose, it existed to sponsor events and speakers with progressive issues and ideas.
In order to bring Carr to campus, the group needed ASMSU to approve the use of money to hire him to speak.
So, considering ASMSU had to approve Carr's visit, it is hypocritical to pass a bill that removes the group it had control over.
ASMSU should have done more research on Carr and found out what he stood for before it approved of inviting him to speak. Removing Great Issues completely on an ad hoc "one strike, you're out" policy is an overreaction.
While his visit was a mistaken use of funds and that what he said was offensive and irresponsible, it should not be the sole justification for getting rid of a group that hosts speakers who represent alternative viewpoints. Not all radical speakers spew vile hate speech, after all.
The biggest problem with Carr's visit was that rather than being sponsored by one particular student group, it was funded though ASMSU, and by extension, the students. Bringing to campus speakers who certain groups of students would disagree with, on the student's dime is one thing, but bringing in a speaker who singles out and maligns particular groups is in inexcusable.
Free speech on campus must be protected, but allocating student tax dollars for hate speech is irresponsible of ASMSU. Great Issues should have been allowed to bring Carr to the university, but it should have been responsible for raising the money for his visit.
Great Issues was a good idea, but one executed incompetently. The group lacked the basic things — like, say, a mission statement at the very least — needed for such an organization to function. And the lack of transparency regarding who sat on the group is puzzling.
If anything should have happened to Great Issues, it should have been reprimanded and restructured so the group could live up to its potential of sparking debate among the student population by giving a stage to unusual viewpoints.
So now, the responsibility to bring radical speakers to campus lies with individual groups. Don't let one mistake silence a forum for alternate views on topics that affect not only us, but our future.
