The Michigan Student Assembly debated into the early morning hours at last night’s meeting on whether to support the boycott against The Michigan Daily. MSA representatives eventually decided to support the boycott after changing the original text of the resolution.
Although members were gridlocked for most of the debate, once the proposal was amended by one of the sponsors, Minority Affairs Commission Co-Chair Ed McDonald, to not include the section “encourages all students to boycott the newspaper,” the amendment was finally passed with a 20 to 9 vote.
Some members said they did not feel MSA had the authority to tell students to participate in the boycott, but still support the boycott.
“We cannot tell students not to read the paper. It’s a personal choice,” Rackham student Ryan Robinson said. Robinson added that he understood the boycott’s demands.
“What’s next, burning papers?” Rackham student and MSA rep. Konstantinos Ghirtis said. “You can’t tell students what to do.”
Many members said they did not want to be quoted with regard to their stance on the boycott, but McDonald said he agreed with the boycott because of the representation of black males.
“Depiction of black males is negative. The only time they mention black male is about crime,” McDonald said.
While normally there is plenty of sitting room for constituents, at last night’s meeting every seat in the house was full and the walls of the MSA chambers were lined with students. Most came to give their personal opinions of the Daily.
While most constituents who spoke publicly urged MSA representatives to support the boycott and listed the ways they feel the Daily misrepresents minority students and organizations, after the vote most constituents asked to speak off the record and not be quoted.
Students supporting the boycott spoke of demands that they said need to be met before it can end.
Constituents spoke, pushing for a public statement printed by the Daily that would act as an apology for its misrepresentation of minorities.
Two minority staff members of the Daily also spoke, asking MSA not to support the resolution and saying that the minority leaders speaking in favor of the boycott were not representing them. They said the Daily was making improvements internally by drafting an internal mission statement and discussing the issues addressed in the boycott with staff members.
Daily Editor in Chief Jon Schwartz said he was disappointed by MSA’s support of the boycott, but that it was not unexpected. Schwartz has, in the past, said that the Daily is far more concerned with the legitimate concerns of the coalition than the subsequent boycott.
The Minority Affairs Commission first proposed the resolution at MSA three weeks ago. Since then, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Affairs Commission and the Women’s Issues Commission have signed on along with 30 other student groups.
Also at last night’s meeting, MSA voted to fund education on the University’s use of race-based admissions policies, although they did not pass a resolution voicing support for affirmative action.