The discussions surrounding the Joe Carr event have been misinformed and sensationalized to such an extent that Great Issues feels obligated to use this space to respond.

Fact: Great Issues co-sponsored an event last year with the Peace Education Center of Lansing, the Michigan Peace Team and the Greater Lansing Network Against War and Injustice. This event featured pointed critique of Israel's state policy and discussed the effect these policies are having on Palestinians.

Critique of Israel is consistently characterized as anti-Semitic on our campus. This prohibits sorely needed debate and discussion on the conflict in Israel/Palestine.

Contrary to what opponents of Great Issues have insisted on saying, no one in Great Issues and none of the speakers we've brought to campus have promoted intolerance or violence in any form.

Fact: Our event featured speakers who recognized the right to Palestinian self-determination and those who outlined nonviolent forms of resistance to what they viewed as the occupation of Palestine.

Joe Carr spoke of his experience working with youth in Palestinian refugee camps.

Lora Gordon spoke of her views on the Palestinian right of return and her experiences as a Jewish American woman doing humanitarian work in Palestine.

Fact: Strict stipulations were written into Carr's speaking contract stating that if he did not adhere to both the university speaking policy and university anti-discrimination policy, that he would not be paid his speaking honorarium.

Fact: University representatives, including Lee June, vice president of Student Affairs and Services, attended this event and deemed it well within the bounds of the university speaking and anti-discrimination policies, and Carr was subsequently paid $500.

Fact: The Joe Carr speaking event attracted 120 participants, of which approximately 90 were students. Many of Great Issues' opponents have attempted to delegitimize the group by suggesting the Joe Carr event was not representative of students. In doing so, the opponents of Great Issues ignore video evidence and disregard university policy that stipulates university-funded events must be inclusive to the general public.

Fact: During the meeting in which ASMSU voted to remove Great Issues, we repeatedly offered to show a tape of the event in question to allow representatives (the vast majority of whom were not at the event last year) to judge the event for themselves.

Our student government was unwilling to view this video, and so Great Issues is asking that you please go to www.brighterdays.wordpress.com and judge for yourselves.

Great Issues' First Amendment rights have been violated, and our student government has proven unwilling to recognize this. University policy mandates that MSU events must be judged on a content-neutral basis. Great Issues opponents have been very open about the fact that our removal was based directly on the content of the Carr event.

The removal of Great Issues has set a dangerous precedent at MSU. If our student government knowingly violates the First Amendment and university policies, what does this say about its position and role in censorship on MSU's campus?

In a promising first step, MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon indicated in a letter to the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan that, should the actions of ASMSU be found unconstitutional, ASMSU would be expected to reinstate Great Issues or face "serious consequences."

The American Civil Liberties Union and Great Issues are confident that we will be reinstated. It is only a matter of when and how.

The responsibility now falls on ASMSU to proactively address this issue. Throughout Great Issues' interactions with ASMSU, ASMSU has exhibited a lack of professionalism and accountability. The loss of meeting minutes from one of the most controversial and lengthy ASMSU meetings in recent history is one example of this unaccountability.

ASMSU has a choice to prolong this conflict by ignoring both the First Amendment and university policy or to take all necessary measures to reverse this decision.

Stefan Lanwermeyer is an MSU social relations junior and co-chairman of Great Issues. Reach him at lanwerm1@msu.edu.