For members of the Muslim Students' Association, it was hard to understand why MSU administrators told them an e-mail message criticizing Muslims was not an act of harassment covered by the university's antidiscrimination policy.
An e-mail sent to the association by mechanical engineering Professor Indrek Wichman on Feb. 28 called association members "dissatisfied, aggressive, brutal, and uncivilized slave-trading Moslems."
Paulette Granberry Russell, senior adviser to the president for diversity and director of the Office of Affirmative Action, Compliance & Monitoring, told The State News the policy's language is hard to understand because its words do not directly reflect how the university handles the situation.
"You have to understand, the law has evolved around years of harassment case law, both racial, religious and sexual," Granberry Russell said.
The policy does not explain that the university evaluates each complaint of discrimination against past court decisions, rather than strict guidelines, she said. Court rulings have more narrowly defined what constitutes harassment.
"The way the courts have defined harassment of any kind is analogous to the way they have dealt with sexual harassment," Granberry Russell said.
She said this is not limited to "unwelcome behavior," but also must include relentless and widespread actions. The activity would have to be ongoing and convince an average person that it created a hostile learning environment.
"(The e-mail) is the only incident that was brought to our attention," Granberry Russell said. "Based on that, the university determined it did not violate the university's policy."
Granberry Russell said the university's policy, which includes provisions against discrimination based on political persuasion and sexual orientation, is how the university holds its faculty and staff to a higher standard than state or federal law.
When determining the outcome of a complaint, however, the university follows precedents set by prior cases. If the university did not follow this method, it could be charged with violating a person's civil rights, she said.
She said people should read the university's policy on sexual harassment — which she said more clearly defines what constitutes harassment — to better understand the way the university might handle a harassment accusation.
Emily Sorroche, a social work senior and member of the North American Indigenous Student Organization, or NAISO, said the policy is too vague for many students to understand how it is used.
NAISO, along with nine other student organizations, signed the request written by the Muslim students asking the university to publicly reprimand Wichman and make diversity training mandatory for everyone at MSU.
Sorroche said the university needs to teach the faculty, not just students, to be sensitive to diversity on campus.
"The university should really look at the demands of the association," Sorroche said. "Faculty have such an influence on students. Coming from (Wichman), it's a slap in the face."
She said the amount of harassment that has occurred this school year is alarming.
"The discrimination on campus is intolerable," Sorroche said. "And this e-mail should not be tolerated at a university level."
Granberry Russell said MSU officials were interested in hearing what the students have to say about increasing emphasis on diversity training on campus.
"Any change to a campus the size of MSU will have to take place at different points," she said. "A one-time seminar is not going to change people's attitudes."
The e-mail This is an enquiry e-mail from Indrek S. Wichman (wichman@egr.msu.edu)
Dear Moslem Association: As a professor of Mechanical Engineering here at MSU I intened to protest your protest. I am offended not by cartoons, but by more mundane things like beheadings of civilians, cowardly attacks on public buildings, suicide murders, murders of Catholic priests (the latest in Turkey!), burnings of Christian chirches, the continued persecution of Coptic Christians in Egypt, the imposition of Sharia law on non-Muslims, the rapes of Scandinavain girls and women (called "whores" in your culture), the murder of film directors in Holland, and the rioting and looting in Paris France. This is what offends me, a soft-spoken person and academic, and many, many, many of my colleagues. I counsul you dissatisfied, agressive, brutal, and uncivilized slave-trading Moslems to be very aware of this as you proceed with your infantile "protests." If you do not like the values of the West--see the 1st Ammendment--you are free to leave. I hope for God's sake that most of you choose that option. Please return to your ancestral homelands and build them up yourselves instead of troubling Americans. Cordially, I. S. Wichman, Professor of Mechanical Engineering.
The University Policy:
Article II. Prohibited Discrimination
Unlawful acts of discrimination or harassment are prohibited.
In addition, the University community holds itself to certain standards of conduct more stringent than those mandated by law. Thus, even if not illegal, acts are prohibited under this policy if they:
1. Discriminate against any University community member(s) through inappropriate limitation (2) of employment opportunity (3), access to University residential facilities, or participation in educational, athletic, social, cultural, or other University activities on the basis of age, color, gender, gender identity, handicapper status, height, marital status, national origin, political persuasion, race, religion, sexual orientation, veteran status, or weight (4) or
2. Harass any University community member(s) on the basis of age, color, gender, gender identity, handicapper status, height, marital status, national origin, political persuasion, race, religion, sexual orientation, veteran status, or weight.
These prohibitions are not intended to abridge University community members' rights of free expression or other civil rights.
