Ann Coulter coming to NMU; several student groups protesting

by: nmudem21

Wed Mar 12, 2008 at 11:28:05 AM EDT

Wow.  For those of you not keeping track of the few of us up in the in middle of the beautiful Upper Peninsula, I figured I would drop an entry about some interesting things going on at Northern Michigan University's campus.

As the title would suggest, conservative hate-monger Ann Coulter has been paid just over $23,000 from student funds to speak at NMU 0n April 14th at 7:00pm.  The presentation is sponsered by the NMU College Republicans.  Tickets are $5 for students and $15 for the public.

Several good and bad things have come out of this little fiasco:

For the first time in many years, NMU students are up in arms over something happening on their campus.  Our student population is notorius for being apathetic; I used to sit on the student government, so trust me when I say I have first hand experience with this claim.  But they went in large numbers to the Student Finance Committee (SFC) meeting and pushed for the board to reconsider their decision to allocate the money.  They wrote letters to their student representatives, they spoke with the administration, they got into th student newspaper and they are planning several events for during the speech.

But there have been several different aspects to the debate.  One side claims they are only protesting the 'gross misuse' of student funds; $23,000 was over half of the remaining student budget for the semester, which means other smaller events have been turned down because of lack of funds.  I was one of three public members at the SFC meeting which approved the budget, and while I don't agree with the use of the funds, I will admit the College Republicans gave a very well thought out presentation and I can understand how non-partisan members of the SFC came to agree with them.  For your information, the vote was 4-3-0.

Some people had an issue with giving so much money to a group which had never requested money from the SFC prior to this event - even those COLLEGE Republicans seem to have their back sources for money, but I guess those sources failed them this time.

Most groups are simply protesting her as a person and are doing everything they can to make sure her trip tp NMU is a terrible experience.  There have been talks of protests, information tables, boycotts and even offering cookies in exchange for shredded tickets to the event. 

And while I commened these students for taking the initiative to stand up for something they believe in, I can't help but think that they are going about it the wrong way.  They are fractured across campus and can't seem to exactly come together to show their dedication in full force.  They demanded question and answer time with her during the show and there has been agreement to have it if at all possible, but if they boycott the show, guess who will be asking the questions?  I bet they won't be very harsh ones if all these people are outside griping about her instead.

This whole event has also shown the great divide which exists on campus.  While I am glad I attend a liberal campus, I can't help but feel as though all this confusion and outrage is cementing stereotypes about college liberals.  When we brought several prominent liberal speakers to campus, the College Republicans simply did not go to the event.  There was no outrage, no attempts to throw out members of the SFC, no massive campaign against the events.  And you can claim that it's because College Republicans are a small minority on campus, I say it's becuase they seem to have their cool about themselves in these types of situations - which is exactly why we must watch out in November. :)

I apologize if I sound wishy-washy about this whole event, but that is the feeling across campus at this time.  Who would have thought such a battle would occur up here in little ol' Marquette, MI?  Anyhow, since I should go to class now, I'll end this.  But if you want to know more about whats going on here, please let me know; I'll try to keep you posted on events pertaining to this.  Anyone free on April 14th is more than welcome to come on up here.