Between the Lines Newspaper
MT. PLEASANT– The 13 member student senate here voted Tuesday to label the Central Michigan University chapter of Young Americans for Freedoma a hate group.
The elected body voted 8 in favor of the resolution, one opposed and two abstentions. The action is not a full action of the student government until and if it passes the student house. SGA President Michael Zeig refused to comment on the resolution because it had not yet been passed by the entire student government.
A similar resolution was introduced in February, but failed because it was felt it was unfair to condemn a group by association with the MSU YAF, which had just been listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center in Alabama.
Former YAF president Dennis Lennox says the group is not a hate group.
"The CMU chapter was one of the original chapters in the 1960s. YAF has never and will never be a 'hate group' on campus, and even the Southern Poverty Law Center has said the YAF chapter is a credible, mainstream organization," he wrote in an email to BTL.
The SPLC announced in February that it would be listing the MSU chapter of YAF as a hate group, but made it clear they were not condemning the national organization or individual chapters.
But by email, HeidiBeirich, the deputy director of the SPLC Intelligence Project, applauded the action of the CMU Student Senate.
"I think it was a courageous step to take. Perhaps YAF will finally quit with its racist antics," she wrote.
