Ken Palmer

Lansing State Journal

EAST LANSING – About three-dozen students - most with their mouths taped shut - camped out at Michigan State University's administrative offices on Wednesday to protest the planned speech by conservative columnist George Will at this weekend's commencement.

The students marched from the MSU Union to the Hannah Administration Building, carrying banners and chanting "It's on you, MSU" and "Rape is not a privilege."

They delivered several boxes of petitions to Vice President of Student Affairs Denise Maybank and staged a sit-in inside the president's office and in the hallway outside.

"The students are out here today because they are tired of MSU not taking rape on campus seriously," , said Melissa Byrne, of the national anti-sexism group UltraViolet, which helped to organize the protest. "They are telling the university (it needs) to cancel George Will's invitation to speak at commencement."

Byrne, who came in from Washington D.C. for the protest, said more than 70,000 people from across the nation have signed petitions demanding Will's speaking appearance be canceled.

Will, a Washington Post columnist, has a history of inflammatory statements questioning the severity of college rape. In a column last summer, he suggested female college students who report sexual assault have "coveted status" on campus.

MSU President Lou Anna Simon has defended the choice of Will as speaker. In a statement issued Tuesday, she said he was chosen before the column appeared in June and that allowing him to speak does not mean school officials endorse his views.

"We understand the concerns that are being raised," Maybank said.

She told protestors that Simon was away from the office attending a funeral. She also told them that Will is still scheduled to speak at commencement.

"This is about MSU inviting him to our campus, knowing that he has made comments about rape that makes survivors feel unsafe," said Emily Kollaritsch, a senior in MSU's James Madison College who helped organize the march and sit-in. "George Will can have his opinion, but we do not want him on our campus."

Kollaritsch said she was sexually assaulted as a freshman and that her attacker received only a hand-slap from MSU. Will's appearance will make survivors of sexual assault feel unsafe at their commencement, she said.

She said graduates are being asked to turn their backs on Will when he speaks on Saturday. There also are plans for an alternate graduate ceremony for students who are uncomfortable with Will's appearance, she said.

Students inside the president's office were ordered to leave at 5 p.m., Byrne said. About two dozen remained in the hallway until about 6 p.m., when they were threatened with arrest and agreed to leave the building, she said. They had hoped to stay until they could speak directly with Simon, she said.

Protesters were buoyed by a show of support from Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., an MSU alumna who said she was "deeply disappointed" that Will is being honored by the university, Byrne said.

"His statements on sexual assault are inaccurate, offensive and don't represent the values or our state or MSU," Stabenow said in a statement.

The furor over Will comes in the context of an ongoing federal investigation into MSU's handling of sexual assault cases. The U.S. Department of Education has two open Title IX compliance cases against the university stemming from complaints filed in July 2011 and February of this year.

Will is scheduled to speak at 10 a.m. on Saturday at the graduation ceremony for the colleges of Arts and Humanities, Arts and Letters, Business, Education, Music and Social Science and James Madison College. He also will receive an honorary doctorate of Humanities.

Organizers say they are planning another protest at the Breslin Center that morning.