Mercedes Schneider reports on a developing story at Michigan State University.
Students, faculty, and alumni are signing a petition protesting the invitation to Betsy DeVos as keynote speaker at the opening of a research center that her family paid $10 million for. If their petition is ignored, expect a protest. DeVos is the most unpopular member of Trump’s abysmal cabinet. It’s hard to say if she’s the most incompetent, because there’s always Scott Pruitt, Jeff Sessions, Rick Perry, Ryan Zinke, Mick Mulvaney, Tom Price, and so many others.
She writes:
“MSU PhD student, Sarah Kelly, has started a petition imploring MSU President Lou Anna Simon and MSU College of Human Medicine Dean, Norman Beauchamp, to rescind the invitation.
“The text of the petition, which appears to have been drafted on August 31, 2017– and which appears to rapidly be gaining signatures– is as follows:
“To:
“Dr. Lou Anna Simon, President, Michigan State University
“Dr. Norman Beauchamp, Dean, Michigan State University College of Human Medicine
“We, the faculty, students, staff and alumni of Michigan State University, and other interested citizens, sincerely request that you rescind the invitation to Betsy DeVos, Education Secretary in the Trump Administration, to speak at the grand opening of the MSU Grand Rapids Research Center (GRRC) on September 20, 2017.
“Secretary DeVos’ past activities have included:
· Lobbying for the privatization of the US public education system under the guise of “school choice.”
· Support for political candidates in Michigan who worked to implement her privatization plans and in the process, have slashed millions from the public education budget.
“As Education Secretary, Secretary DeVos:
· Recommends a $9 billion cut in federal education funding, including cuts to higher education, training and after-school programs.
· Supports cutting financial aid to low-income college students making it easier for private loan servicers to prey on Michigan families. The MSU College of Human Medicine already has some of the highest per student debt in the nation.
· Rolled back regulations on for-profit colleges and has made it easier for low performing for-profit colleges to defraud students.
· Refuses to limit federal education funding for schools who actively discriminate against LGBTQ students.
“The undersigned believe that Secretary DeVos’ agenda is diametrically opposed to the education and inclusion mission of Michigan State University. While her father-in-law’s gift in support of the GRRC is welcomed and appreciated, giving Secretary DeVos an MSU-sponsored platform to speak sends a message to the public, alumni, faculty, staff, students and their families, that the compromising of MSU’s standards can be easily purchased.
“Further, the undersigned are very concerned that planned protests of Mrs. DeVos’ visit will disrupt the GRRC Ribbon Cutting and distract media focus away from the celebration of MSU’s newest state-of-the-art research facility in Grand Rapids.”
Congratulations to the intelligent, courageous and appropriately outraged members of the MSU community!
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The song “Send in the Clowns” plays in my head as I read this. Isn’t it rich?
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I have heard of some strange things, but this is over the top. Colleges and universities all over the land, are attempting to ban certain speakers, with whom the students/faculty have variance.
What about freedom of speech?
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The students, faculty, and alumni have every right in the world to protest and to request that the speaker’s lecture be canceled. DeVos has not lost her freedom of speech that is utter nonsense. She has a bully pulpit as Secretary of Education, she is welcome on most of the media, especially Fox News and hate wing radio. She’s practically a media star, she has all the opportunity in the world to bloviate and propagandize for school privatization.
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Charles,
People speaking out against speakers and wanting to ban them is also freedom of speech.
“The first amendment to the Constitution says: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Show me where the 1st Amendment says we the people can’t protest when someone we think is despicable and the evidence supports what we think wants to speak in our town or school.
It’s time for ignorant, hating people like the Kluckers, and Nazis and other white supremacists to learn what the 1st Amendment actually says. The Constitution does not guarantee that they can do and say whatever they want without people protesting and resisting what they want to do and say.
If thousands of counter protesters sign petitions and fill the streets to condemn and silence people like Betsy Devos, the Constitution doesn’t say they can’t do that.
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I have thought about this MSU issue today.
I would not want to deny DeVos the right to speak, especially since her family paid for the building (will they research creationism there?)
I suggest that the audience follow the examples of the graduates of Bethune-Cook University in Florida. Stand up and turn your backs on her. She gets to speak and those who don’t like what she represents get to protest her views. Freedom of expression for all!
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Turning your back on her is a great strategy, or protest outside the building. Another option would be to boycott her speech. Having a paltry audience also sends a message. Let Betsy ramble on with her “go to” public school bashing.
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You are right about speaking out. This is freedom of speech, of course. But wanting to ban them, is NOT freedom of speech, it is the antithesis of freedom.
Abraham Lincoln Quotes. Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves; and under the rule of a just God, cannot long retain it.
It is easy to support freedom for pleasant speech, that you agree with. It is tough to support freedom for thoughts we hate. NO one who supports freedom of speech, would consider banning speech.
Of course, you should protest and speak out, when someone you think is “despicable”.
As far as the KKK,Nazis, etc. the Constitution guarantees their right to spew their hate and filth. Their hateful speech is protected. And well it should be. If more people had read “Mein Kampf”, our ignorance of Hitler, and the Nazis would have been avoided.
I hope that thousands of counter protesters, sign petitions opposing the views of Ms. DeVos. But you are wrong, wrong, wrong, if the Constitution does not prohibit people from “silencing” her.
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‘But you are wrong, wrong, wrong, if the Constitution does not prohibit people from “silencing” her.’
BS on your part – I did not say the people have the power to silence her, but they do have the right to demand she not be allowed to speak. That doesn’t mean the people will get what they want.
The people have the right to speak out in protest and made demands, but the people can’t force the courts to silence BD because the U.S. Constitution blocks the government from silencing free speech.
It doesn’t block the people. In fact, if the counter protesters wanted to stop her from speaking, they could do what the counter protesters did in Boston recently to stop the Kluckers and Nazis from speaking.
Thousands of counter protesters could fill the streets so Besty can’t reach the location where she is supposed to speak.
I like the idea of few showing up or a huge crowd filling the venue and then turning their backs on her and starts to sing “We will overcome” when BD starts to speak.
And if the people turned into an angry mob and pulled a French revolution on BD, I’d be out in the streets dancing and cheering.
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I’m going to change that to “The people do not have the legal right to force her into silence” but the Founding Fathers of the U.S. did not have the legal right to break the laws of the British Empire and rebel.
On that note, maybe it’s time for a 2nd rebellion or civil war to put an end to BD and her class. We should learn from our Founding Fathers and history.
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I couldn’t agree more even if I hate Devos and some of the others. Shutting them down is the wrong thing.
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@Michelle: Thanks. It is difficult to extend freedom to thoughts we hate. If the views of Ms DeVos are so terrible, all citizens should be aware of them!
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Not to worry, Charles. She is the most unpopular cabinet member.
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Diane, I commend you! In keeping with the spirit of, “If you can’t say something nice about someone, don’t say anything at all,” you’ve charitably pointed out that Ms. DeVos is #1 at something, even though you dislike her! We should all follow your example!
🙂
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@Diane: What empirical evidence do you have, to support your claim that Ms. DeVos is the most unpopular cabinet member?
Is there a national poll, to support this claim?
The secretaries of Defense and State, get much more “ink”, than the Sec of Ed!
How many people even know who the secretary of the interior is?
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There have been several polls showing DeVos to be the least popular member of his cabinet. Quite an achievement given that almost every one of them is incompetent.
http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2017/02/03/513037533/how-betsy-devos-became-trump-s-least-popular-cabinet-pick
http://www.newsweek.com/president-donald-trump-popularity-cabinet-571192
https://truthinamericaneducation.com/federalized-education/half-americans-disapprove-betsy-devos/
I suppose this is why the U.S. government spends $1 million a month to protect her.
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I hope they protest loud and clear and I hope that Michigan parents flood the streets to protest all the “great things” the DeVos family has done for education in the state of Michigan.
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It’s reasonable for the patron of a building to speak at a ceremony. DeVos should not be prevented from speaking, nor her speech disrupted. That puts her in a victim role, providing her supporters with free ammunition. That’s the major, self-defeating mistake made previously by by protesters of ultra-conservative, provocative speakers. The protesters just end up casting themselves as the bad guys, an incredibly self-defeating approach. Frankly, the best action against her is for her to speak as often & as much as possible; give her enough rope to hang herself. An effective protest would be for protesters to be dispersed throughout the crowd, each prepared with a question, asked in a respectful tone, without sarcasm or hostility, that shows her up for what she is; if there are enough protesters, they’ll get a significant number of questions out. Of course, she’ll evade, twist, & rationalize, but –>everyone will hear her evade, twist, & rationalize<– (that is, those questions that she’s able to comprehend & even attempt to answer coherently). Take a cue from good journalists who just move on after pressing a subject on a tough question, when after a series of evasions the subject still doesn’t answer; the point has been made. Ask questions that will highlight the ignorance & injustice behind her plans. For those who miss it, it can be pointed out in analyses that follow. Let these questions follow her everywhere she speaks in the future.
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I find myself in agreement. The answer to speech you don’t like, is more speech.
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She is a master of evasion.
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All they’ll do is turn her into an ed reform martyr.
Her speeches are a series of slogans punctuated with anecdotes about the horrors of public schools. People will forget it 60 seconds after it’s delivered anyway.
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@Chiara: All the more reason to give her a microphone.
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My vision: NO ONE attends. She’s greeted with an empty room.
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They could fill the room with DeVos family and employees and staff of the quack Neurocore company.
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Do you suppose the building, a research center, wil alsol have some fully paid faculty posts for researchers to promote her Neurocore investments? Will she try to keep up with the Walton family and Koch brothers in extracting the “right” kind of research?
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Michigan State University was created through the sacrifice of taxpayers who wanted an alternative to legacy admission colleges. Prior to any decision to allow DeVos to speak at a public institution, the organization should inform her that at the time she is introduced, the plot to destroy common goods, by rich Americans like the Walton heirs, Bill Gates, the hedge funds of DFER, etc. will be exposed to the public audience.
If MSU’s administration lacks the morality to do so then, DeVos should be handled by the public like the barbarian at the gate that she is.
$1,000,000 a month for DeVos’ security is a cost that the public doesn’t want to pay. When the oligarchy resorts to their own security e.g. Blackwater’s hired mercenaries (DeVos’ brother) and, those mercenaries attack American citizens on the property that belongs to the state of Michigan, the 90% will become clear about who the enemy is.
Bethune Cooke students showed college administration that DeVos was an affront to the founder of the college. Thanks to them for having morality and better judgement than the college President.
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DeVoss is a money sucking, incompetent, fake christian, with a hatred of the “little” people. Make no mistake, she fully intends to completely destroy public education. She and her ilk are dispicable.
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As an alum of Michigan State this news makes me sick to my stomach. However, I agree that attendees turning their backs on her is a more powerful and effective response than banning her altogether. I don’t think she deserves the invitation to speak just because she donated the funds to pay for it, though. If it’s truly philanthropy, she shouldn’t expect to get to monopolize a microphone to a captive audience.
What are we going to do to keep all of these billionaire ideologues from slithering into our public universities?? Scary.
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“Acanemia:A Memoir of Life in the Halls of Higher Learning” is a new book by Lawrence Hussman.
He writes that corporate top down management is the cardinal sin ushered in by the businessmen, who now dominate university administration and boards of trustees.
Hussman uses the management failures at Wright State University to illustrate.
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She needs to be banned from speaking at all public universities. What would be the motivation for anything milder?
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@Mate. You cannot be serious. Our nation cherishes freedom of speech. How do you propose banning her?
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She can talk if she brings her own soapbox.
There is no freedom of speech on college campuses. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/21/colleges-restrict-free-speech-fire-report_n_4633542.html
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