Louise Knott Ahern

lkahern@lsj.com

The selection of conservative journalist George Will as one of the speakers at this weekend's Michigan State University commencement has sparked anger among advocates for sexual assault survivors because of the syndicated columnist's controversial statements about rape.

So far, more than 700 people have R.S.V.P.'d to protest MSU commencement Saturday morning at the Breslin Center. Other events are also planned throughout the week, including a rally Wednesday in front of the Hannah Administration Building in which protestors say they will deliver petitions seeking his removal from the list of speakers.

Organizers of the events say Will -- a Washington Post columnist who briefly taught at MSU in the 1970s -- has a history of inflammatory statements discrediting the severity of college rape.

Most notably, Will wrote a column last summer in which he suggested female college students who report sexual assault have a "coveted status" that brings "privileges" on campus.

"It makes me really, really sad to call myself a Spartan, to even feel I belong to this institution," said Emily Kollaritsch, a senior and one of the organizers of Wednesday's rally. "He might have his opinion, but for the university to affiliate with him is another story. They are affiliating with a rape apologist."

Facing the growing criticism, MSU President Lou Anna Simon issued a statement Tuesday afternoon defending the choice of Will as speaker and explained -- among other things -- he was selected before he wrote the controversial June column.

"Having George Will speak at commencement does not mean I or Michigan State University agree with or endorse the statements he made in his June 6 column or any particular column he has written," Simon wrote. "It does not mean the university wishes to cause survivors of sexual assault distress. And it does not mean we are backing away from our commitment to continuously improving our response to sexual assault.

"What it does mean is this: Great universities are committed to serving the public good by creating space for discourse and exchange of ideas, though that exchange may be uncomfortable and will sometimes challenge values and beliefs."

(Read President Lou Ann Simon's full statement.)

Will was announced Dec. 2 as one of three fall 2014 commencement speakers. He is scheduled to speak at 10 a.m. 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 will also receive an honorary doctorate of humanities.

One faculty member, sociology professor Stephanie Nawyn, said his appearance sends a bad message in light of an ongoing federal investigation into MSU's handling of sexual assault cases. The Department of Education has two open Title IX compliance cases against MSU for assault reports made in July 2011 and February this year.

"I am concerned, as are other faculty, that bringing an individual to our campus that has publicly invalidated and dismissed the traumatic experiences that some of our graduates have had sends an inaccurate message to our students," Nawyn said in an email. "Will is not just giving a speech; he is part of one of the biggest days of our graduates' lives, and I want that day to include messages that the Spartan community respects and treasures all of our students."

Nawyn is among a group of faculty who are organizing a second or alternate alternative graduation ceremony for students who are not comfortable sitting through Will's appearance. Details of the ceremony were not yet finalized as of Tuesday afternoon.

MSU's Council of Graduate Students sent Simon a letter on Monday calling Will's selection "a direct contradiction to the very firm stance the university has recently proclaimed to actively address the problem of sexual assault..." The letter also asks the university to dedicate more resources to hiring sexual assault counselors on campus.

"For us, it's not a difference of opinion," said Emily Gillingham, a third-year MSU law student and one of the organizers of Saturday's protest. "For us, it is just an insensitive choice. I feel bad for survivors who will be there, their graduation marred by a speaker who is a symbol of how we treat campus rape survivors."

The other two speakers scheduled this weekend are filmmaker Michael Moore and -- perhaps ironically --Teresa Sullivan, president of the University of Virginia.

UVA has been under its own cloud of controversy about how it handles campus sexual assault following a Rolling Stone article detailing a gang rape at a fraternity there.

The magazine has since distanced itself from the article, citing several inconsistencies in the alleged victim's story. However, Sullivan has suspended all fraternity and sorority activities until Jan. 9 and created a task force of students and faculty to examine university policies.