The State News sent out a questionnaire to all of the trustee candidates ahead of the November election. Out of the 10 candidates, eight responded to the questionnaire. Candidates John Sanger and Janet Sanger did not respond to the questionnaire. 

If elected in November, candidates will be required to sign the code once they assume the position of MSU trustee. If they refuse, the candidates will be censured and stripped of all privileges, including access to games and the ability to participate in committees. 

Republican-endorsed candidates Julie Maday and Roger Victory said they wouldn’t sign the code, as well as candidates Daniel R. Patterson, John Anthony La Pietra and Yaz Ozbek. 

Incumbents Board Chair Brianna Scott and Kelly Tebay Zemke said they would continue to abide by the code of conduct if re-elected.

Maintaining free speech is broadly the main concern among the five who said they would not sign the code. 

Maday said she would sign a code that "requires trustees to avoid conflicts of interest, protect confidential and legally privileged information, stay out of the administration's day-to-day operations, and treat staff and one another with respect."

"What I can't sign is the new language requiring a 'duty of loyalty' to the Board majority and limiting what a trustee may say publicly once a vote is taken," Maday said.  

The code was adopted by the board during a last-minute May 17 special meeting held over Zoom. Trustees were given a week deadline to sign the revised code; consequences for not signing the code would be “immediate," according to the document. 

Trustees Rema Vassar and Mike Balow credentials were revoked for the Mackinac Policy Conference a week later. At the following board meeting in June, both trustees were censured.  

The Foundation for Individual Rights, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit, said the code of conduct violated trustees “ability to speak about university affairs, criticize institutional decisions, and communicate candidly with the people they were elected to represent."

FIRE offered to help MSU amend the code, although the university never responded. 

MSU has said the code was reviewed by their counsel, as well as a third party law firm, saying it was similar to other higher education governing boards' codes such as Wayne State University. 

Following the board’s Sept. 11 meeting, Scott said at a press conference that “the policy is not about limiting speech or restricting board members from raising concerns, providing oversight, or questioning decisions."

"Instead, it establishes standard governing practices," she said.

At the same meeting, Balow said the revised code “probably needs to change if we're gonna be true to our ideals."