EAST LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Michigan State University (MSU) Trustee Mike Balow found himself in the crosshairs at a board of trustees meeting last week because he had attended a vigil for conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated in September.
According to a report in the State News, Balow said he attended to show support for free speech and to stand against political violence. A reasonable gesture – unless, of course, you’re on a liberal campus where backing free expression or conservative causes can send some students and faculty members running for their safe spaces and therapy dogs.
Outrage begins.
Social studies secondary education junior Vincent Delgado, identifying as a trans person of color, accused Balow of endangering underrepresented groups simply by being at the event saying, “You cannot expect to to stand in the front row of a vigil for a man who endangered my community, speak about his death being a gut punch to you, and expect marginalized students affected by Kirk’s rhetoric to think you are just supporting free speech and standing against political violence.”
Accusations of selective compassion.
Delgado was also not happy that Balow hadn’t addressed disciplinary charges facing Eli Folts, a student accused of making President Kevin Guskiewicz feel unsafe during a pro-Palestinian protest.
Delgado told Balow, “I ask you to better represent and protect your trans and marginalized students by apologizing for your decision to pick and choose which lives matter enough for you to say something.”
Another speaker at the meeting, Craig Smith, a parent of an undergrad student who is also a University of Michigan faculty member, made a remark aimed at Balow saying that political persecution is present in the United States but that it’s “typically just not people who are rich white men who attend Charlie Kirk memorials who experience those things.” The comments were made while missing the irony that both Delgado and Smith were able to freely express their opinions at a public meeting without receiving any political persecution.
