Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Sarah Schulte, general counsel for Michigan Technological University, addresses the Undergraduate Student Government Friday, including members Ben Conlin and Mariah Mellendorf, in forefront, regarding its vote to deny a funding request for a speaker by the Tech chapter of Turning Point USA. Tech’s administration, citing First Amendment concerns, stepped in to fund the event from USG’s accounts after it could not reach the two-thirds vote needed for approval.

HOUGHTON — Michigan Technological University’s administration overruled the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) Friday. USG voted twice not to provide requested funding for conservative student group Turning Point USA (TPUSA). Administration said USG’s vote violated the First Amendment and the university’s free-speech policy.

The USG deadlocked 8-8 with four abstentions, short of the two-thirds majority necessary to approve a $3,500 fee for speaker Brandon Tatum.

Administration had called the emergency meeting after Wednesday’s vote failed 12-11-1.

“I think our vote was very reflective in that we were split almost exactly, because we were concerned about the safety of our students, but also beholden to the constitution,” said College of Computing representative Ben Conlin, who abstained from the vote.

The move to put university funds towards Tatum had drawn criticism from students online and at the earlier meeting. The bulk of the criticism was directed at transphobic rhetoric from Tatum.

“At Wednesday’s meeting, we had students including representatives from the body of LGBTQIA students at this university crying and begging us to consider their safety in this matter,” said fourth-year representative Griffin Abbott, who voted against the funding. “We have seen students pointing out the lack of consideration for the humanity of trans and gay students. What other protected classes are we willing to allow speakers to come and spew their hatred about on this campus?”

Representative Cole Pierucki said his no vote was motivated by the numerous students who had come to Wednesday’s meeting saying Tatum would make them feel unsafe and unwelcome on campus.

“I feel that putting away my political viewpoints, I think that voting no is the right option, because you want to protect our students,” he said.

Speaking at Friday’s meeting, Tech general counsel Sarah Schulte said First Amendment rights required the university to step in and fund the speaker.

Schulte said administration would not intervene until a decision had been made out of principles of shared governance. The board of trustees has ultimate authority, but also shares it with groups such as USG and the university senate. What forced the university to step in, she said, was a board policy that requires USG to act in accordance with the constitution.

Schulte said it appeared “significantly more likely than not that the vote of the last meeting was due to the viewpoint of the speaker,” thereby violating the First Amendment.

“It doesn’t mean you have to vote in favor of the funding today,” she said. “But this is essentially an opportunity for you to hear their perspective and make a decision about what you’ll do going forward … on the side of the administration, it’s an effort to respect the shared governance role of the USG rather than taking that over and taking that authority away.”

In an interview Monday, Schulte said she had been contacted by staff members who were present at Wednesday’s meeting who had been concerned USG’s vote had taken content into account.

That prohibition would also apply for representatives who voted not based on their views of the content, but over concerns for the safety of marginalized students, she said.

“I can appreciate the distinction that was attempting to be drawn there, that they were concerned about students feeling comfortable in their environment,” she said. “Unfortunately, it wasn’t drawing the line the student intended it to. The decision based on whether what someone is saying makes someone uncomfortable is still a decision based on the viewpoint or content of that speech.”

Schulte said the university follows the Chicago Principles of free speech, which states that “debate or deliberation may not be suppressed because the ideas put forth are thought by some or even by most members of the University community to be offensive, unwise, immoral, or wrong-headed.”

Other USG members, including some who voted in favor of the funding request, said they had felt disrespected by the administration overriding their decision.

Treasurer Emily Ruf had voted to approve the funding request, as a member of the Ways & Means Committee. On Thursday, she was called to a meeting with administration where she was told if USG did not vote in favor, Dean of Students Wallace Southerland and the Office of Student Affairs would overturn their rejection and authorize the funding.

She urged other members to join her in voting against the funding request. She wanted procedural consistency, she said; asking USG to overturn their vote at a hastily-called meeting with no public comment was inconsistent with that.

“Many students on this body lost sleep, the respect of their peers, and faith in shared governance in this institution over a decision the university was ultimately going to make for us no matter what we did,” she said. “Many student members of this community shared deeply personal stories in front of a nervewrackingly large group of people in the hopes of swaying this body. They should not have had to undergo that highly stressful situation in order for it to mean absolutely nothing to the outcome.”

One of the four abstentions was Conlin. He said he was torn between his obligation to approve the funding and his personal beliefs. He grew up in Colorado Springs, Colorado, near the site where a gunman killed five people at an LGBTQ nightclub in November.

“I had a friend commit suicide because they were forced by family, church, and advisors to hide who they were, choosing death over the world they had been born into … It feels like we have been told that we cannot vote no, and I fear that I cannot vote yes, because my heart hurts too deeply for the community that is marginalized and threatened,” he said.

College of Computing representative Mariah Mellendorf, who voted yes, said she felt the no vote wasn’t a rejection of the funding, but of the administration.

As for her yes vote, she said, “It wasn’t because we wanted to go against what constituents wanted. It was because we knew that this would be a violation of policy and knew that this would likely happen anyway.”

Michigan Tech released a statement after Friday’s vote explaining it would overturn the vote.

“It is the role of a university to be a home for a diversity of viewpoints and to provide a forum for those viewpoints to be shared and discussed,” Tech said in a statement Friday. “Michigan Tech remains intentionally neutral on matters of public concern out of respect for its students, faculty, staff, and community members. The result of the meeting does not align with the principles of free expression that are integral to the educational mission of Michigan Tech. For that reason, Michigan Tech will take measures to fund the request of student organization Turning Point USA at Michigan Tech.”

Tatum, a former police officer and conservative radio host, is visiting the university in March at the “Be Brave With Brandon” event.

The $3,500 comes from the USG’s Opportunity Fund, which is available for startup costs for a new organization, unpredicted student expenses, or new initiatives of student organizations that had not been previously budgeted for, said secretary Isobel Bowker.

This would be the first request received by TPUSA, which is a first-year club at the university.

TPUSA estimated 200 people would attend the Tatum event, which would make it the largest student turnout for a project receiving Opportunity funds this year, the Ways & Means committee recommendation said. Ways & Means granted $3,500 of the initial $10,000 request.

“Not only is this amount perfectly reasonable … it’s something that our students deserve to have the opportunity to attend,” said at-large representative Sydney Dankert, who voted for the funding. “And if they don’t agree with the subject matter, that’s fine and they cannot attend or they can go protest. I’m not saying they shouldn’t have that opportunity. But we have this precedent, and I think that that’s the most important thing here.”

At Wednesday’s meeting, Caleb Glenn, the leader of TPUSA at Tech, said Tatum’s speech was about “standing up and speaking your mind. If you hear something you don’t like, you should be able to say that,” according to minutes.

An email was sent to Glenn on Sunday seeking comment.

Michigan Tech students circulated a petition on social media early last week asking USG not to fund Tatum. It had received 285 signatures as of Monday afternoon.

The petition linked to several past Tatum comments, including a tweet where, after quoting suicide rates among LGBTQ people, said “We need to stop promoting it as being normal.” In another recent column, he called people pushing for trans athletes to be allowed to compete as women “literally demonic.”

The petition also flagged comments Tatum had made dismissing the effectiveness of masks against COVID-19 and a statement from his account of becoming conservative where he said “the country isn’t as racist as I thought it was.”

On Feb. 14, Tatum tweeted a link to a counterpetition to his 690,000 followers, saying “The Crazy Leftist Diversity Inclusion Crowd at Michigan Technological Institute is trying to BLOCK a black man from speaking and I need your help!” More than 9,450 people had signed that petition as of Monday afternoon.

The TPUSA counterpetition states “We are hosting this NON-PARTISAN event for freedom of speech where ALL STUDENTS on campus are welcome to join us regardless of if they share our values … There is a current push by a small group of people that do not want us to receive the funding in order to fulfill our contractual obligations to Brandon Tatum and his team.”

TPUSA’s national organization would cover 40% of the cost, with Tech’s Opportunity fund contributing another 35%, according to a breakdown of costs included with TPUSA’s petition. Other funds would come from grants from The Leadership Institute, funds from local business owners and grassroots fundraising such as can drives.

About 40 people attended Friday’s meeting. Because it was an emergency meeting, no public comment was allowed, said USG Vice President Kaitlyn Black.

A Tech student in attendance who declined to give their name said the university shouldn’t block Tatum from coming, but shouldn’t have interfered with the vote.

“My issue is with funding him, and how my tuition dollars, my part of the student activity fee, is going to fund a speaker with a history of hateful, violent rhetoric,” he said. “With a large chunk of the LGBTQ population feeling threatened by this speaker, I believe they don’t want their money being spent in a similar way either.”