Had to pick between staying quiet or losing my club funding

Last semester at Central Michigan, our debate club got told we couldn't host a speaker who disagreed with the campus diversity statement, even though it was just a guest lecture. I had to choose between canceling the event or moving it off campus and losing our $1,200 student activity budget. We moved it to a coffee shop downtown and 40 people showed up anyway, but has anyone else had to break their own school's rules just to have a real conversation?

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beth_hart688d ago

Central Michigan telling you that a guest lecture breaks the diversity statement says a lot about how these rules actually work in practice. Once a school can tie your funding to what speakers you bring, the $1,200 stops being support and starts being a leash. Maybe it's just me but the real test is whether they'd apply that same rule to a speaker the diversity office happens to like, and I'd bet money they wouldn't.

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