Students take over president’s office to demand action against rape

The Coalition Against Sexual Violence at Michigan State University held a rally outside the Hannah Administration Building Nov. 19. Dozens of students and community supporters demanded that administrators speak out against sexual violence on campus and take action regarding past assaults, particularly the case of two MSU Spartans men’s basketball players who were accused of raping a woman student in late August and who remain on the basketball team. The coalition was promised a meeting with MSU officials weeks ago, but administrators failed to follow through.

WW photo: Kris Hamel

After reading a statement detailing the culture of rape and misogyny on MSU’s campus and calling out the administration for its lack of action, student activists read a list of nine demands that the university must meet. Among them was the demand to match men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo’s recent pay raise of $500,000 with a fund for sexual assault prevention and education.

The coalition is demanding a new educational campaign against sexual violence and victim-blaming, as well as demanding that university administrators issue a public apology to the survivor and all survivors for the administration’s failure to act and speak out against sexual violence.

After students finished reading the demands, demonstrators began chanting “Silence is betrayal!” and stormed the steps of the administration building to stage a sit-in inside MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon’s office.

Hoisting posters, activists chanted and occupied Simon’s office for nearly 20 minutes before an administrator offered to meet with students in the nearby board room. Because of the constant militant chanting, police were unable to order the demonstrators to vacate the premises.

During the meeting with the president’s diversity advisor and the vice president of the university, students voiced their concerns and outrage over the lack of consequences for acts of sexual violence. They also expressed dissatisfaction with current education programs that seem to be ineffective, given the high number of sexual assaults on campus.

The meeting, which went on for more than an hour, ended with a plan to hold another meeting between students and the university, with the administrators promising to contact the coalition within a week.

The militant action was the top news story on WLNS TV 6 in Lansing. Workers World newspapers were distributed to the participants.