Dear Editor,
Queers & Allies were verbally told on the first day of classes that the Office of Opportunity, Empowerment, and People (formerly known as the Office of Diversity and Inclusion) is no longer willing to plan, fund or host Lavender/Multicultural Graduations, nor provide us funds as a student organization to advertise like in previous years. This led us to email the Office of Housing and Residence Life regarding their contribution to the funding of our Annual Drag Show, and we were told that, like the OEP, they were no longer willing to fund the Drag Show due to policy changes.
Over the last month, we have sent many emails regarding our funding and heard little to nothing, except that we are to wait for the meeting we set up with the President’s Office. This meeting was opened up to various other student organizations shortly after we set it up, many of which frequently visit the Student Finance Committee and NMU departments/offices for funding in the Fall semester — without our consultation. In addition, no emails were answered regarding our concerns on whether or not we were allowed to bring our agreed-upon attendees or draw attention to our specific concerns for diversity student organizations.
During the meeting on Sept. 24, NMU’s Associate Vice President for Northern Student Experience, Jeff Korpi and Assistant to the President, Cindy Paavola shared their concerns for offices and students who receive federally-funded grants. They worried that this funding would be cut if the university did not comply with Executive Orders. While we completely understand this and share the same concerns, (we do not want any harm or budget cuts to come to our fellow students and services) we believe that compliance with these orders should not come at the price of discrimination and that all duly registered student groups should still be given equal consideration for their members and events.
We as students fund our Student Finance Committee (SFC) through the Student Activity Fee (SAF), a fee that is automatically added towards our tuition bill. Through our funding the SAF, we should be eligible to request funds. Anything else constitutes discrimination and violates state law, in particular the Elliot-Larsen Civil Rights Act.
We were able to get a statement in writing regarding the planning and hosting of our graduation ceremonies from Paavola: “Due to the Department of Education and Department of Justice stating that the use of University funding for affinity group-related graduation celebrations makes a higher education institution non-compliant with the White House executive orders regarding diversity, equity, inclusion DEI activities, Northern Michigan University will not host nor provide funds for the Multicultural Celebration and Lavender Celebration events in the 2025-26 academic year as it has in past years.”
In sharing our concern of being considered an “external customer” by the Northern Center, (the venue for our Drag Show) and being charged to rent the space, (which we had not in previous years) it was strongly implied at this meeting that it appears this will only apply in a discriminatory fashion to diversity centered student organizations.
Previously, we were able to rent the space free of charge, as were all student groups, and the explanation we received from Korpi and Paavola was that it was because we charged for community member tickets, a practice we only did at the suggestion of the SFC to be able to fund the following year’s Drag Show. We never once received, nor requested the money gained through the Drag Show.
On Oct. 1, we heard at the Associated Students of Northern Michigan University’s General Assembly that ASNMU & the SFC, as university funded organizations, will no longer be in compliance with the federal government’s policies if they support or fund certain student organizations, since NMU is unwilling to support their student organizations and student events. This is all information that without a Q&A representative in attendance, we would likely not have found out without asking several probing questions. We ask that communication be much clearer to student organizations about the funding they could potentially be denied by the SFC for events that are in “gray areas.”
We are requesting that NMU give us the respect we deserve as a student organization in good standing. We, as students, deserve to hear what policy changes are occurring at our institution. We shouldn’t have to wait weeks for a meeting for information that may immediately change once we are in the room. We understand that policies and decisions are ever-evolving and changing how our administration operates, but this deeply impacts the work that we are able to do. It impacts the answers we are able to give to our members. It impacts our daily lives as we are full time students who volunteer our time to run our meetings and events. This impacts the work that Northern’s faculty and staff are able to do. We all deserve proper and timely communication. We deserve to understand what our university will protect us against, as we have been told we will not be protected considering our “provocative” wording and imagery. We deserve a university who will stand up for ALL its students, not just the ones it is “safe” or “easy” to defend.
Most importantly, we deserve the same civil rights as every other student. When an executive order violates human rights, it is the citizen’s duty to refuse that order. In such cases, compliance equals complicity.
We ask that students, faculty, staff, parents, and community members direct their frustrations with these policies to the Board of Trustees at 906-227-2232 and [email protected]. We ask that you be polite but firm in asking for restoration to our funding and resolution to the issues we are facing as a student organization. If there are any questions or concerns, please reach out to us at [email protected] & [email protected].
Thank you for hearing us.
