{"id":566946,"date":"2021-06-17T13:07:17","date_gmt":"2021-06-17T17:07:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=566946"},"modified":"2021-06-17T13:07:21","modified_gmt":"2021-06-17T17:07:21","slug":"michigan-state-university-considers-punishing-students-who-advocate-for-free-speech-on-iconic-free-speech-rock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/michigan-state-university-considers-punishing-students-who-advocate-for-free-speech-on-iconic-free-speech-rock\/","title":{"rendered":"Michigan State University Considers Punishing Students Who Advocate For Free Speech On Iconic Free Speech Rock"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmichigan-state-university-considers-punishing-students-who-advocate-for-free-speech-on-iconic-free-speech-rock%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=566946&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Michigan-State-University.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"  style=\"display:none\"><\/div>\n<p><span>Michigan State University is caving to activist pressure and considering punishing students who write politically incorrect messages on the campus\u2019 iconic free speech rock.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>In an email obtained by The Daily Wire, university president Samuel Stanley insinuated that the school may place restrictions on the free speech rock after liberal messages were desecrated. Stanley said that \u201cinclusion\u201d and free speech are at a \u201ccrossroads\u201d and students may be punished if they do not comply with the university\u2019s anti-discrimination policy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cThe university supports freedom of speech in all forms and expects every member of our campus community to comply with the MSU Anti-Discrimination Policy,\u201d Stanley said. \u201cThe intersection of inclusion and free speech sometimes seems like a crossroads. These crossroads can be uncomfortable at times. But we feel they are important principles that need to work together which we should all honor. Based on events over the past week, we are having important dialogues with many student groups to discuss the impact of these messages and underscore our commitment to inclusive excellence.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Painting the iconic rock first became a Michigan State tradition in 1873. The university has no written rules for when the rock can be painted or repainted. Students often camp at the rock to protect their artwork.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>According to the university\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/statenews.com\/article\/2021\/06\/rock-defaced-students-demand-change'\"><span>student paper<\/span><\/a><span>, the email came after the rock was painted with the progressive pride flag and a message that read, \u201cHate has no home here.\u201d Liberal student organizations began guarding the rock after other students wrote \u201cBoycott your DEI training\u201d over their artwork, referring to the \u201cdiversity, equity, and inclusion\u201d training mandated by the university.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The State News reported that the words \u201cBoycott your DEI training\u201d were written six or seven times over liberal artwork painted on the rock.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The organizations that were protecting the rock and the left-wing messaging were the same ones that advocated the university implement diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training. The university caved to activist demands.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>An individual named Helen Wilson, who claims to speak on behalf of a \u201clarge group of university students, faculty, and staff [who] have an issue with the DEI training,\u201d said that the group will continue to paint the rock until Michigan State removes its mandated training.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>According to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wilx.com\/2021\/06\/14\/group-explains-their-stance-with-painting-msu-rock\/\"><span>WILX<\/span><\/a><span>, the group \u201crejects the university\u2019s unilateral mandate of the training\u201d and believes that the school is violating \u201cits stakeholders\u2019 first amendment rights by compelling speech in their DEI training.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWe believe freedom of speech is indispensable within the academy and threats to these freedoms must be addressed swiftly and forthrightly,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cDissent is not hate speech. There is no hate in our message, and the claims that our [painting] has been targeted to cover pride messages is false.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Michigan State alumni Sam Larey told The Daily Wire that most students were unaware of what was written on the rock and awoke to find out that their free speech may be limited.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWe awake to an email stating that MSU plans to meet with student groups \u2014 doesn\u2019t clarify which groups so that\u2019s troubling \u2014 to find a potential pathway to respect inclusivity and free speech. That alone is a red flag for free speech is meant to be <\/span><i><span>free<\/span><\/i><span>. It\u2019s not meant to be inclusive,\u201d Larey said. \u201cTake it upon yourself to paint over that message instead of entertaining the idea of a school policing the words and opinions of their students.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Michigan State University did not immediately respond to requests for comment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><i><span>member<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michigan State University is caving to activist pressure and considering punishing students who write politically incorrect messages on the campus\u2019 iconic free speech rock.\u00a0In an email obtained by The Daily &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2280598,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Michigan-State-University.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"Michigan State University Considers Punishing Students Who Advocate For Free Speech On Iconic Free Speech Rock","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-566946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/Michigan-State-University.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"Michigan State University Considers Punishing Students Who Advocate For Free Speech On Iconic Free Speech Rock","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=566946"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566946\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2280598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}