Third year law student Emily Gillingham is organizing the protest because she wants to show MSU students do not share Will's views. 

Gillingham said when she created the event, she thought only a few people would be interested in participating. She said she is now working with police to acquire a permit for the protest during Will's speech at the Dec. 13 ceremony.

Gillingham said the protest is nonpolitical, which is why the Facebook event makes no mention of Will's fellow commencement speaker Michael Moore. She said her choice to speak out against Will as a commencement speaker has nothing to do with Will's politics or his accomplishments in the field of journalism.

"We are putting it on for the people who are there at graduation who have experienced sexual assault," Gillingham said. "The way the article characterizes sexual assault reporting 'a coveted status or something that confers privileges"...it's just a slap in the face to those who have lived it."

In previous interview with The State News, Emily Kollaritsch, a sexual assault survivor said MSU's decision to invite Will to speak is "despicable and disgusting," albeit "not surprising."

Kollaritsch said the crowd at the commencement ceremony will be full of people who do not want him there.

Will, who MSU spokesperson Jason Cody said was chosen as a speaker "due to his career as a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist," sparked controversy when he wrote a column focused on what he considers the effect of progressivism on college campuses.

The column addresses sexual assaults on college campuses, which Will believes are "overreported" because the universities have "made victimhood a coveted status that confers privileges."

Will also questions the Center of Disease Control's statistic that one in five women are sexually assaulted.

Gillingham said Will brought up "several legitimate questions about due process for those accused of rape" in his article but took issue with the fact "it was wrapped up in a number of insensitive and harmful remarks."

"He is a symbol of how sexual assault victims are treated on campus," Gillingham said.

The Facebook event, which features a link to Will's article, instructs students participating in the protest to "Bring signs. Bring (legal) noisemakers." It also recommends students review the American Civil Liberties Union's guide to lawful protesting.