The church, which has become infamous for picketing military funerals nationwide, was a hot topic for discussion as it plans to picket East Lansing High School next Thursday. The protest comes in response to e-mails sent to the church by students there, said Shirley Phelps-Roper, a member of and attorney for the Westboro Baptist Church.

“They wrote us e-mails and said, ‘You shouldn’t do that,’” Phelps-Roper said. “And when they say those kind of things, they’re demonstrating that they don’t have a clue what we’re doing and why we’re doing that. We have to go over there and show them that these are the commandments of God.”

With Westboro coming to the area, campus interfaith representative Chris Burnett said it’s important for ASMSU to stand against what the group represents.

“They (protest) all over the place,” Burnett said. “They’re pretty much anti-everything except themselves. We want to condemn them to let them know they’re not welcome here.”

Women’s Council Representative Alyx Ross echoed Burnett’s words and said it’s critical for ASMSU to take a stand against the group. Ross said the church is a racist and sexist group and she doesn’t agree with what they’re saying.

“This group is a hate group,” Ross said. “They hate Jews. They hate gays­ —— As a group representing the students, we don’t agree.”

While Ross said Westboro’s free speech isn’t in question, the content of what’s being said is generally disagreed with.
“We’re not condemning them from speaking, we’re just saying we personally don’t agree,” Ross said. “Honestly, I think we can support their right to free speech while disagreeing with them.”

In other action, the committee passed legislation to hold a town hall event to inform students about ASMSU.

International relations senior Colleen Peterson said she hoped it would increase ASMSU’s visibility on campus.

“It will help get involvement in ASMSU because a lot of people don’t know what it is,” Peterson said. “It gives people a chance to voice their opinions and what we can help them with.”

Peterson said it’s something the Goals Committee has discussed, and more details about the time and date will be available after the committee meets next week.