Students For Academic Freedom

Conservative Club Derecognized Over Horowitz · 25 August 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. (Aug. 25) — Central Michigan University has derecognized and revoked the registered student organization privileges of Campus Conservatives for hosting nationally-known conservative author and commentator David Horowitz on Oct. 14, 2008, just as members of the club were preparing for tonight’s event with the assistant majority leader of the State Senate.

Sen. Michelle McManus, a CMU alumna and Republican candidate for secretary of state in 2010, will still speak at the Campus Conservatives meeting scheduled for 8 p.m. despite the actions of school administrators. Without standing as a registered student organization, Campus Conservatives was unable to reserve a room — forcing McManus to address students in a cafeteria instead of a venue appropriate for a guest lecture by a lawmaker who sits on the Senate committee responsible for CMU’s state funding.

Student Life assistant director Tom Idema sent an e-mail message dated Friday to Campus Conservatives president Bryant Greiner indicating the school’s oldest political club and only outlet for conservative students was no longer “recognized as a registered student organization and granted the privileges that are associated with being a RSO.”

Idema revoked the standing of Campus Conservatives without as much as a hearing or notification that action was pending; denying the organization its rights guaranteed under CMU policies.

A three-page objection to Idema’s unilateral action and demand for an immediate reversal was filed with CMU Board of Trustees chairman Gail Torreano, CMU Board of Trustees vice chairman Stephanie Comai, interim CMU president Kathy Wilbur and other administrators on Monday. “One of these rights is due process — a right (Idema) denied to Campus Conservatives . . . there appears to be no provision of the Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities and Disciplinary Procedures or any other publicly available CMU rule or regulation that grants (Idema) the sole authority to revoke the registered student organization status of this organization in the manner that (he) did,” wrote members of the Campus Conservatives Board of Trustees.

In addition to the “full restoration of the registered student organization standing of Campus Conservatives” by 9 a.m. this morning, the club requested a “personal apology” by Idema for his “reckless and inexcusable conduct” and his disqualification from any future disciplinary process, as he is “bias and cannot preside over any matter involving Campus Conservatives or its members without substantial conflicts of interest.”

CMU has tried repeatedly since February to charge Campus Conservatives for security provided by school police officers at last October’s event with Horowitz. The organization has steadfastly refused to pay for police protection, citing a letter from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education legal defense group to then-CMU president Michael Rao warning that such a charge would be unconstitutional.

“Any requirement that student organizations hosting controversial events pay for extra security is clearly unconstitutional, as it affixes a price tag to events based upon their expressive content,” FIRE president Greg Lukianoff wrote in his Oct. 10, 2008, letter to Rao. “The Supreme Court addressed this issue in Forsyth County v. Nationalist Movement . . . by striking down an ordinance in Forsyth County, Georgia, that permitted the local government to set varying fees for events based upon how much police protection the event would need.”

Campus Conservatives has tried to resolve the matter for months, but CMU administrators won’t drop the charge for security at the Horowitz event.

“Charging students to engage in the civic process discourages participation, especially amongst those with viewpoints not welcome in the Ivory Tower,” said Greiner. “CMU is running a racket that one would expect from the mob in a Sopranos episode.”

According to CMU’s Code of Student Rights, Responsibilities and Disciplinary Procedures, Idema had no authority to revoke the standing of a registered student organization without adhering to the proper process, which includes notification and a hearing that affords a student organization its due process rights.

“Tom Idema, the Office of Student Life and his allies in the CMU faculty and administration have repeatedly tried to silence students from spreading a conservative message to counter the liberal orthodoxy preached in the classrooms and the halls of academia,” said Greiner. “Campus Conservatives has had a presence at CMU since 1961 and we don’t plan on going anywhere despite the best efforts of some.”

Past actions by Idema and administrators against Campus Conservatives, the club’s members and other students have been previously highlighted as unconstitutional by FIRE and the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan.

In April 2007, Idema enforced a then-CMU policy requiring Campus Conservatives to accept students with beliefs different from its mission statement. The unconstitutional policy, which forced
Christian organizations to accept non-believers and gay organizations to grant membership to anti-gay students, was dropped by senior administrators under the threat of litigation by FIRE.

In October 2007, CMU instituted a campus-wide videotaping and photography ban after a Campus Conservatives member had filmed Congressman Gary Peters, who at the time was a professor and candidate for office. The unconstitutional ban, which Idema’s boss, claimed applied to all students including student newspaper reporters, was withdraw following a complaint by the ACLU of Michigan.

In October 2001, CMU students were prohibited from displaying the American flag on doors to student dorms because it was “offensive” to Muslim students. Under threat of litigation from FIRE, the unconstitutional prohibition was dropped.

McManus and Horowitz are just two of many speakers brought to CMU by Campus Conservatives. Others have included numerous state legislators, ABC News “20/20” anchor John Stossel, British historian Andrew Roberts and Lithuanian Foreign Minister Vygaudas Usackas.

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For more information, contact:
cmucampusconservatives@gmail.com

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