Michiganders among America’s top 100 conservative students

The conservative Phillips Foundation of Washington, D.C., has announced scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 for what they call the “Top 100 Conservative Students.” The scholarship announcement lists 83 awards; 26 are renewals for winners in 2007, and the remaining 57 are new winners.

Michigan university students are well-represented on the list, with 10 scholarship winners from Michigan, including two renewals. Last year, the group funded seven students from Michigan.

A press release from the organization said “the Ronald Reagan College Leaders Scholarship Program (started in 1999) offers renewable and one-time scholarships to the ‘Top 100′ college undergraduates who demonstrate exceptional achievements as campus leader-activists against collegiate ‘political correctness’ and ideological conformity, and for freedom, American values, and Constitutional principles.”

On the list of winners are notables such as Dennis Lennox II, the camera-toting conservative activist at Central Michigan University, and Kyle Bristow, the former head of Young Americans for Freedom of Michigan State University. Lennox received a scholarship of $5,000, while Bristow received his second scholarship of $2,500.

Continued -Under Bristow’s leadership, YAF-MSU has been listed two years in a row by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group. SPLC is the nation’s largest civil rights organization tracking what it deems hate groups, which range from the New Black Panthers to neo-Nazi and KKK groups. Its quarterly magazine, The Intelligence Report, is sent to more than 50,000 law enforcement officials around the world, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation. SPLC also provides training for law enforcement about identifying, tracking and addressing hate groups.

Jeff Hollingsworth, the Phillips Foundation’s assistant secretary of the Board of Trustees, told Michigan Messenger in an interview that the Southern Poverty Law Center listing had no bearing on the group’s decision to award Bristow money. “The Southern Poverty Law Center is a ‘hate group’ itself,” he said.

Bristow has been associated with white supremacy leaders; he facilitated an April 12 appearance in Lansing by Canadian white supremacist Paul Fromm and attempted to bring American Renaissance leader Jared Taylor to Michigan State University’s campus. Hollingsworth said he and other trustees have had conversations with Bristow about the people with whom he is seen.

“As a matter of fact I have spoken with Kyle, and they (trustees) have expressed concerns about his associations. We would not want him or anyone else in the program to associate with people with less than savory reputations,” Hollingsworth said. “I have assurances from him about his willingness not to allow that to happen.”

Asked if Bristow’s recent comment on the SpartanSpectator that AIDS is not the problem, rather the solution, Hollingsworth was taken aback.

“If that is something he said, it might be our concern,” the spokesman said. Then added, “It is not our right to muzzle anyone.”

Asked if the Phillips Foundation agreed with Bristow’s take on HIV, Hollingsworth said, “No, of course not.”

When asked if the foundation might take action against Bristow, Hollingsworth said the organization could take action, depending on the response of trustees, which could include revoking Bristow’s scholarship.

Hollingsworth abruptly ended the interview by saying, “Oh, I have heard about Michigan Messenger. I don’t have anything else to say.” He then hung up. Michigan Messenger was unable to ask additional questions about other scholarship winners.