The weekend damage to the LGBTQA office has intensified the pressure on the ASUO to act against the Pacifica Forum.
Pressure had already been on the Forum, which has invited speakers to campus who have denied the Holocaust and espoused neo-Naziism. However, the ASUO Senate voted down a resolution on Jan. 27 asking the group to leave campus, with those who voted against the resolution citing concerns that doing so would violate the group’s First Amendment rights.
Less than an hour after coming to the LGBTQA office to see the swastika spray-painted into the carpet, LGBTQA Co-Director Alex Esparza linked the Forum’s rhetoric to the incident and criticized the ASUO’s decision.
“I would like to see a student government that takes a stand against acts of hate like this,” he said as EMU staff were removing the pieces of carpet upon which the symbol was painted.
The ASUO’s executive branch was quick to speak out against the Forum as well. In an e-mail sent at 8:56 a.m. Monday, Vice President Getachew Kassa wrote, “This is wrong and will not be tolerated. The people responsible for such a hateful act will pay for their actions.”
President Emma Kallaway told a gathering of students that afternoon she would pursue removing the forum regardless of the Senate’s decision.
Senate Vice President Nick Schultz said after the Jan. 27 resolution failed that he would continue to submit resolutions against the Pacifica Forum at every subsequent meeting until one passed. He has submitted a new resolution, and he said he is more confident in its passage tonight than he was of last week’s resolution.
Schultz removed the request for the group to leave campus from the new document, saying senators with whom he had talked would not support it. Instead, the new resolution, set for debate tonight, would support the University’s Jan. 20 decision to remove the group from the EMU for the rest of the year and supports those opposing the forum.
Sen. Demic Tipitino, who voted against the last Pacifica Forum resolution, helped Schultz write the new one. Schultz said that was an indication the new one was likelier to pass.
Schultz said senators told him they would support the resolution “as long as there isn’t any attempt to remove the Pacifica Forum from campus.”
Not all senators said they would support the new resolution, however. Sen. Tyler Griffin, who voted against the original, said he won’t support any resolution that mentions the Pacifica Forum. He said the incident in the LGBTQA increased the need to act, but he said a resolution against the Pacifica Forum specifically would be misplaced.
“We should pass a resolution that makes our campus safe and brings our campus together,” he said. “But this is not the way we unite — by ousting a group.”
Griffin said any resolution should call upon the University administration, rather than the Forum itself, to act.
 
No police report for suspected vandalism
The University administration is still mulling over its options in response to the evident act of vandalism over the weekend.
Campus safety officers have not yet filed a police report in response to an incident in which janitors found a swastika spray-painted on the floor of the LGBTQA office early Monday morning.
University spokesperson Julie Brown said Department of Public Safety officers will file the report once they finish gathering evidence from those who have keys to the office. She said the aim of the interviews is to get a better idea of when the incident likely happened. She said she does not know how many people have keys to the office.
Mike Kraiman, EMU technical support administrator, said Monday that the EMU gave DPS the names of those who carried keys to the office, but would not release the names while DPS is investigating the incident.
Brown also said the University is still revising the policy that allows the controversial Pacifica Forum to meet on campus. Students who met with University President Richard Lariviere, following the incident in the LGBTQA, said it should spur the administration to remove the Forum, which has invited speakers to campus who deny the Holocaust and advocate white supremacy.
The current policy allows all retired University professors, including Pacifica Forum founder Orval Etter, to reserve space on campus free of charge. Lariviere said Monday that the new policy might require groups to pay for space on campus. Brown said, contrary to what Lariviere told students on Monday, the University has not yet submitted the policy to its lawyers for review.
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