MSU student and Secretary of the MSU College Republicans Club, Tyler Bommarito, paints over The Rock, previously painted by the North American Indigenous Student Organization (NAISO) for Indigenous Peoples Day, on Michigan State University's campus in East Lansing on Monday, Oct. 13, 2025.
A gray sedan rolled up to Michigan State University's iconic landmark, The Rock, on the evening of Indigenous Peoples' Day Monday before parking.
Out hopped two members of the the school's chapter of the College Republicans, grocery bags of spray paint cans in hand.
As they approached, The Rock was emblazoned with a message in bright blue and black letters from the North American Indigenous Student Organization, or NAISO, commemorating the national day of remembrance: "NO ONE IS ILLEGAL ON STOLEN LAND," it read.
After waiting for other members of the organization to show up, the conservative students popped the caps from their spray paint, and got to work. About thirty minutes later, the Indigenous students' message had been crossed out with white paint, and a new slogan was displayed above.
"America has a right to exist," read the side facing Farm Lane. On the flip-side, a terse declaration: "WOKE IS DEAD."
The act closely echoed a similar one at MSU last Indigenous Peoples' Day. When NAISO decorated The Rock then with the message "We are still here," the MSU chapter of Turning Point USA — a conservative youth group founded by slain activist Charlie Kirk — painted over it in all black with the words "'Dibs' – Columbus 1492.'" TPUSA's repainting prompted backlash among many students, and the organization’s president apologized for the act on his private Instagram account before leaving the organization shortly after, The State News reported.
College Republicans Secretary Tyler Bommarito told The State News Monday's repainting was a last minute plan. It was spurred when he saw NAISO's painting on The Rock this morning after leaving his class at the nearby Bessey Hall.
He snapped a picture of it, before sending it to the College Republicans group chat, he said, where "a lot of people voiced their support" for painting over it.
In spite of that initial enthusiasm, members of the organization were seemingly slow to the take Monday evening as Bommarito and International Relations freshmen Alex Rajcevski looked to paint over The Rock. For the first twenty minutes after they arrived, their grocery bags of spray paint sat resting on the grass, as Bommarito made calls soliciting more to join the effort.
"Hello, patriot," Bommarito said to someone on the other end of the line. "You be a patriot, because right now, it's just me and Alex."
Eventually, four others showed. The sun was setting on a quiet campus around 8 p.m. as they worked, with a few students pausing to observe the scene.
Among them was Miah Gill, the vice president of the Black Students' Alliance, which had just finished meeting. Though she believes everyone has the right to free speech on campus, Gill takes issue with the message College Republicans is sending.
“This is the same type of social fear and internal intimidation on marginalized students that makes it hard for us as a community to come together,” Gill said. “It would be hard for anyone who is an immigrant, who is a family member of an immigrant, or anything of this sort, to want to have a conversation with the men and women who defaced our rock.”
For Bommarito, the message College Republicans displayed was a direct response to the one it replaced. The "logical conclusion" of NAISO's statement, he said, is that "America does not have the right to exist."
He added, "If you reject the concept that there can be somebody illegal in America, you're rejecting that America has the right to have borders. And, by accepting that American has no right to have borders, you are denying America nation status. So, we wanted to emphasize that we view this rhetoric as unacceptable."
The act was more social for Rajcevski, who said he saw it as a means to "hang out with friends" — but he too took issue with NAISO's messaging.
"They have the right to their opinions, and I respect it," he said. "But not everyone agrees with everything everyone says."
While no university policy specifically regulates how The Rock can be painted, some student groups take as an unwritten rule that messages should stay displayed for at least 24 hours.
College Republicans president Aleks Evans noted that his organization was "respecting that," and that it intentionally let NAISO's message "stay all day."
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That attempt at politeness may ring hollow for others.
“That right there is exclusion,” Gill said of the College Republicans' message. “It's hate, and that's what's going on in our campus.”
Tuesday evening, after the publication of this story, NAISO Hospitality Chair Jacob Doss sent The State News a statement saying the organization "does not care to speak on what was painted on The Rock."
Doss said that NAISO celebrated Indigenous Peoples Day at the Powwow in Detroit, and then spent the night at the State Capital for a community dinner.
