This latest move included a Sept. 12 meeting with student groups associated with the Council of Racial and Ethnic Students, or CORES, among other student groups. 

“As part of an ongoing university-wide review to ensure continued compliance with state and federal laws and regulations, student organizations have received guidance to adopt language that makes it clear all students are permitted to join and/or participate in those organizations,” university spokesperson Amber McCann said in an email.

McCann specified that MSU Student Affairs met with the group of student organizations during last Friday’s meeting. She also clarified that Student Affairs encouraged student organizations to “adopt inclusive language in their constitutions or organizing documents while being tasked on “informing and supporting student organizations with language suggestions”.

“Student Affairs has met with multiple student organizations and encouraged the adoption of inclusive language in constitutions and organizing documents,” she said. “Student Affairs has also offered to meet with any group in need of additional support and guidance. These meetings came about as a result of the university’s ongoing review to ensure MSU’s continued compliance with state and federal laws. RSO’s must follow the university’s non-discrimination policies in order to receive recognition, benefits and support.”

For Culturas de las Razas Unidas (CRU) president Rafael Gordillo Serrano, the meeting was “a tough conversation”.

“We’ve all been experiencing these effects of the administration,” Gordillo Serrano said. "You've seen them come in at UMich, we've seen them all over the nation and so it was like you kind of expect it at some point. There was definitely a lot of confusion and I would say anger, but also like a sense of appreciation,” Gordilo Serrano said. "I will say that certain faculty in the department have been very for the students, like 'this is what's happening. Let's see what we can do to work around it to ensure that you guys continue to operate as your individual organizations'”. 

Though he’s personally unsure how much funding would or wouldn’t have been in jeopardy if student organizations decided not to change their mission statements, Gordilo Serrano said the changing of certain language would be seen as a safety net for student groups.

“I don't know how in the air (the funding) is just because I know they're really like targeting identity-based funding, but I know changing the language is being seen as a safety net for the student orgs right now,” Gordilo Serrano said.

Shortly after meeting with Student Affairs representatives, Gordillo Serrano said he and CRU’s E-Board made the decision to change their mission statement.

“We did have a tough conversation of 'Hey, what do we think?' Gordillo Serrano said. “I think at the end of the day, this language thing, it's a bigger fight than it seems. It's not just attacking MSU, it's going on all over the country and if this is what we had to do to make sure that our community has a safe place and a beacon of programming on campus, we accepted the change because we didn't see it as necessarily changing anything with what our actual programs entail and what they represent.”

The biggest change to CRU’s mission statement is now including a section within its constitution that the student organization is open to Hispanic or Latino identifying people and allies.

In an email to The State News, Kaylin Casper, the president of The North American Indigenous Student Organization (NAISO), said she spoke with the leadership of CRU and The Asian Pacific American Student Organization Friday evening to discuss steps on moving forward, with the plan on producing a CORES statement on the matter.

Though not directly contacted by MSU, other student organizations with identity-based missions and names have also considered adapting amid the federal changes.

Mikia Lawrence, president of Her Campus MSU, a local chapter of a national publication that "uplifts, informs, and connects college women," described the push for student organizations changing their constitutions as “frustrating," though her group has long been open to students of all gender identities.

“It's definitely frustrating to have to go through and possibly change things, although I don't know how much that's actually going to affect Her Campus because part of our recruitment is that Her Campus isn't just for her and that is something that we've already been pushing for years now.”

“It's definitely frustrating to have to revamp a statement in order to comply with the ever-changing federal standings,” Lawrence said. “I understand where they're coming from as someone who is in a leadership role because I understand that they're doing it to try and help us, but at the same time, It also feels like we're being shut down for lack of better words.”

Lawrence added that though Her Campus was not contacted by MSU, the student organization is still who they are, regardless of what their mission statement is.

“At the end of the day, we are still who we are as an organization, regardless of what our mission statement says,” Lawrence said. “I guess I'm not too mad or worried about it. It's just frustrating because It's almost like we're masking who we are and what we do to appease other people.”

For Gordillo Serrano, though there is a general feeling of unease, CRU will continue to move forward with the work the student organization has been doing.

“We know that this isn't the end of it, because it hasn't been the start of it either,” Gordillo Serrano said. “We know what this administration has been doing over the past year, and we still have three years to go in it so we're all ready to work together, try to combat it as much as we possibly can, because we believe in our mission. We have so much love for the organization that we represent and the work that we do.”

The Black Students Alliance, The Asian Pacific American Student Organization, TransAction MSU, Indian Students Organization, Vietnamese Student Association, the Undergraduate International Indian Student Association, Empowering Women in Law and the Society of Women in Space Exploration did not respond to The State News’s request for comment at the time of publication.