On Friday, June 12, Michigan State University Board of Trustees intensified its debate over recent changes to its code of conduct. I watched as five of the eight board members ultimately decided to censor two of their fellow trustees for failing to sign on to their new free-speech destroying litmus test. I was less surprised that these rules were being enforced than I was that five trustees seemed to have no concept of how representative government works.
The through-line arguments for the changes, primarily made by trustees Rebecca Bahar-Cook and Renee Knake Jefferson, were twofold. First, that it is a “governing body governing itself,” preventing the minority from being able to challenge majority decisions in the name of unity; that trustees have a “duty of loyalty to the university.” Second, from Jefferson, that she (and the MSU Board of Trustees) is not beholden to the voters of Michigan. At least in part, the board does not understand its most basic duty: to represent the taxpayers of Michigan.
Trustee Rema Vassar got it right when she said that silencing the minority in favor of “progress” is distinctly undemocratic and un-American. I say this as someone who disagrees with her on almost every issue. But I still recognize her as a representative of Michigan taxpayers. The beauty of our system is that our guarantees of freedom of speech allow ideas to be debated and taken to the public. In contrast, Bahar-Cook and the majority advocate for debates behind closed doors with forced NDAs and penalties for trustees who oppose them afterward. Trustee Sandy Pierce specifically discussed the dangers of giving opinions to the public who “don’t have the context.” That sounds like an out-of-touch, elitist legislator who has lost her way.
Whether trustees were appointed by state legislators or popularly elected as they currently are, their allegiance should be first and foremost to Michiganders, who fund the university whether or not they are affiliated with it. I want nothing more than to see MSU become the best school in the nation, but not at the cost of taxpayers’ voices. Aside from monetary reasons, these changes are bad policy as gagging the minority post-vote is not how legitimate democracies function. Groupthink is an infectious disease that leads to consistently poor decisions and outcomes for both the public and MSU.
Proponents of the new revisions will argue that they don’t actually amount to speech control, as the penalties do not prevent trustees from doing their jobs. They will compare it to the actions of bodies like Congress, where members are regularly censured and, more rarely, stripped of funding. This is an incorrect lens to look at the trustees through. These bodies censure based on individual actions, not on a broad scope of any opposition to majority decisions. Denial of entry to events, such as the Mackinac conference, while “non-essential” to their roles, is an essential tool that, in fact, enables members to perform their duties to the best of their abilities. Do Michigan voters not deserve a Board where everyone can do this?
Therefore, I am of the opinion that the MSU Board of Trustees would fail fifth-grade civics. Our system is built on the idea that the people give power to the government. Five of the members fail to grasp this and seem to purport that, once elected, trustees should become cogs in the system, unable to bring issues with it to public light. If we allow this model to become normalized in our country, we risk destroying what is left of independent thought and true legislative representation.
Aidan Haas is a rising junior at Michigan State studying Civil Engineering. He serves as the vice chairman of the Michigan State College Republicans and MSU Young Americans for Freedom. Haas hopes to work on infrastructure projects post graduation with an emphasis on governmental affairs. His opinions are his own and do not reflect the views of The State News.
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