MSU plays Hide and Speak

When a major state university has a student group hosting a very controversial speaker like Nick Griffin, the British National Party leader, you would think they would want people to know where the event was occurring.

Apparently not. Neither the sponsor of the speech, Sons of Liberty, nor MSU officials was ready to ante up with a location.

For those who don’t know, Griffin’s party is blatantly white nationalist in ideology, and the Times Online’s Investigations Editor Dominic Kennedy calls them “the most successful hard-right party since Oswald Mosley’s 1930s neo-Nazi Blackshirts.” Griffin appeared at MSU in October 2007 where he said a number of vile things, including defending his denial of the holocaust and advocating the death of homosexuals.

So when MSU freshman Jordan Zammit promised in his February 8 press release on American Renaissance’s website that the good politician would “discuss how the fraud of man-made global warming is used by liberals to attack the sovereignty of nation-states,” Michigan Messenger thought it was a pretty important story.

That’s a conversation that’s hot in politics right now right now and worthy of attendance and press coverage. And since it’s being paid for with public money, one would think it would be open to the press and the public. But MSU initially refused to tell us where the speech was taking place.

MSU’s University Relations Manager Kristen Parker responded Monday to an inquiry as to where the event would be held saying:

You should contact Zammit for information about the Nick Griffin visit.

Sgt. Florene McGlothian-Taylor, the public information officer at MSU Police, was equally unhelpful. She directed Messenger to the student group as well, noting only that MSU Police Department’s Special Events Unit was aware of the speaking engagement. She declined to disclose the location of Griffin’s speech however, saying that the speech was “only for the students in the group.”

Here’s what Zammit had to say in an email to YAF Watch, a blog that this reporter contributes to:

As you know, we are hosting Nick Griffin of the British National Party on February 18, and I would very much like it if students who are interested in politics attend the event, listen to his short speech in a civil manner, and then participate in a question and answer session. Many politicians come to MSU—President Obama and Senator McCain included—who do not afford MSU students an opportunity to question their views. I believe that this is a great opportunity for people to learn something—liberals and conservatives alike.

The event is going to be held between noon and 1:00 p.m. on February 18, and you are invited to participate in the marketplace of ideas. Instead of shouting down one another, I firmly believe that it is in our mutual interests–as human beings–to hear the arguments that each side has to offer, and to create a new, civil, discussion of politics on campus.

Yet he refused to provide the location of the speech both to that blog and to the Michigan Messenger. If this speech was intended only for those who are already members of the Sons of Liberty, all that reasonable-sounding talk about dialogue and an opportunity for learning becomes both nonsensical and hypocritical.

Alas, the mystery was finally answered by Dr. Lee June, vice president and associate provost for student services at MSU, who said that the event had been scheduled at the MSU Student Union. But that took a lot more effort than it ever should have.