Outspoken campus group keeps quiet about funding
MSU’s Young Americans for Freedom officials aren’t revealing where the money comes from to fund the speakers they’ve been welcoming to campus for the past year.
Officials from the university and MSU YAF could not say where money for events and speakers comes from and all deferred comment to MSU YAF Chairman Kyle Bristow. Upon repeated attempts, Bristow either declined to comment on the financial aspects of his organization or did not return State News phone calls.
YAF has brought speakers to campus to discuss such issues as illegal immigration, sexual orientation and globalization. Guests include British National Party Chairman Nick Griffin, Colorado congressman and presidential hopeful Tom Tancredo and Minuteman Civil Defense Corps President and co-founder Chris Simcox. In April, MSU’s chapter was the first college organization placed on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s list of hate groups.
The organization has received funds in the past from the Leadership Institute, a conservative organization located in Arlington, Va., where Bristow interned last summer.
Leadership Institute President Morton Blackwell said his organization has financed an MSU YAF program once, with a grant of $2,890 provided to the organization for a Simcox speaking engagement this Tuesday.
Simcox, who visited MSU in the spring and was greeted with protest, said he received a stipend from YAF then to cover travel and hotel expenses, but his check this week will cover those costs plus an honorarium for him to spend at his own discretion.
“This time, it’s the same thing plus a $1,500 honorarium and that’s through a grant from the Leadership Institute,” Simcox said. “It goes to me, to eat and pay bills.”
Blackwell was not bothered by the fact that MSU YAF was placed on the national list of hate groups in the spring, saying, “Any group that supports limited government is going to be called a hate group by somebody on the left.”
The $2,890 grant that includes the honorarium is justified and legitimate, Blackwell said.
“That is a pretty small grant for an off-campus speaker,” he said. “You will find that $1,500, as these things go, is a very small honorarium for a nationally recognized speaker.”
The grant from the Leadership Institute is the only noted contribution to MSU YAF in recent history.
Fred Watson, assistant director of the Department of Student Life, said registered student organizations do not receive money from the university. Money for activities and events comes from donations, grants, fundraising or ASMSU, MSU’s undergraduate student government.
“We have records of all the groups that come to us,” said Osman Elfaki, vice chairperson for student programming for ASMSU. “(YAF) never received any funding via an activity department on programming board and they have never sought funding from the ASMSU Funding Board.”
William Allen, MSU YAF’s adviser, said he does not typically get involved with the group’s daily operations and it is not necessary for them to run plans or documents by him. He said some of the financial support can come from sponsors or the speakers themselves.
“Often, it’s not them bringing someone to campus, it’s accepting someone’s offer to come to campus, in which case it’s of no cost at all,” Allen said.
“I suspect that was the case with Griffin.”
Erik Johnson, national chairman for YAF, also denied assisting MSU’s chapter financially, other than an $800 advertisement placed in The State News this spring to support MSU YAF.
“The MSU chapter has asked for no grants and we’ve provided zero financial assistance,” Johnson said.
Published on Sunday, November 11, 2007
Comments
Joe Sylvester
11/11/07 @ 11:35pm
SLWS!!
Dustin
11/11/07 @ 11:59pm
“SLWS!!” => “Smash Left Wing Scum”
Apparently Joe Sylvester is just one of Kyle Bristow’s many pseudonyms.
Steve
11/12/07 @ 2:00am
Is anyone else sick of the State News covering YAF over and over again when there are plenty of well- minded and positive groups on campus working for social change yet never receive any mention in this lacking school newspaper?
I know that I am.
Come on now State News, give us a break. Quit reporting on Bristow and his hate- mongering cronies. It’s getting quite old.
Eduardo
11/12/07 @ 2:09am
I love all these articles about MSU YAF. SLWS!
LukeGrabowski
11/12/07 @ 2:27am
Who cares where they get their money, they are making the campus more educational by bringing in speakers who tell us something different than the same old bias stuff we hear from professors.
Hmm
11/12/07 @ 9:10am
Steve,
YAF has brought skinheads on campus. kind of newsworhty,e specially for Jews.
You’re not one of those “Killer Coke” nutters, are you?
KAE
11/12/07 @ 11:24am
Steve,
I agree that the State News out to try its hand at some positive reporting on some of the many other fine student groups on campus. There’s literally hundreds to choose from. Surely one or two of them are doing something newsworthy, maybe even scandalous!
Tyler
11/12/07 @ 2:08pm
I think the State News should conduct an investigation and find out exactly where YAF is getting money.
Charles W. Skinner
11/12/07 @ 2:33pm
Correction to the above news report.
Rep. Tancredo was brought to campus by the Conservative Law Society of the MSU College of Law. We arranged it, we spearheaded it, we provided the space for it, and we funded it. YAF members spearheaded the media response after the protests due to scheduling issues with the Conservative Law Society President, and also because YAF members vehicles were damaged in retaliation.
Charles W. Skinner
President
Conservative Law Society
the Man, man.
11/12/07 @ 3:54pm
if the StateNews called me asking me about my finances I wouldnt answer either.
Remember the Southern Poverty Law Center is simply a two bit private law firm. their opinion about any group means nothing. no different than mine. also, they are a super partisan group of wanna be activists who ONLY attack conservative groups.
man.
Steve
11/12/07 @ 4:08pm
Hmm, no I am not one of those “Killer Coke nutters”, thanks for asking though. While I agree that YAF bringing “skinheads” to campus is newsworthy, this article, nor many of the others written about YAF, need be printed. Its getting old State News. Maybe time to find something new to obsess about…
Erin
11/12/07 @ 4:45pm
No DIRECT funding fromt the university, however maintanance of buildings, security for events et cetera do cost money.
Oh, and the SPLC’s hate group listing is based on certain criteria and evidence that such criteria has been met, it is then sent to law enforcement agencies, and as for only listing conservative organizations- I have to wonder if anyone complaining about the bias in the SPLC’s hate group lists has even bothered to look at it, other than knowing that YAF is included. Because if they did, they would notice that black nationalist groups are included as well. So much for only listing conservative groups….
J. Edward Tremlett
11/12/07 @ 5:12pm
Well, at least they’re walking their talk by not getting money from an institution they clearly despise.
I’d be curious to know where the money’s coming from, too. But that could be said for any student group, really.
Tom
11/12/07 @ 6:24pm
George Bush and Dick Cheney are funneling money through Haliburton to Kyle Bristow!!!!
So lame. Get over it.
Paul Kurkul
11/12/07 @ 6:51pm
Keep up the good work YAF, and I’m looking forward to seeing more speakers.
Jason Van Dyke
11/12/07 @ 7:48pm
The Southern Pervert Lunatic Center (SPLC) has a definition for a hate group that makes absolutely no sense. They have stated “[w]e generally deem a group a hate group if they have an ideology that denigrates an entire class of people for their inherent traits.” And the question, of course, it what constitutes an inherent trait. Well, the definition of “inherent” is “existing in someone or something as a permanent and inseparable element, quality, or attribute.”
But what about illegal immigrants? The status of being an illegal immigrant is one that in neither permanent nor inseparable. If all of the illegal immigrants got on a bus and returned to where they belong, they would no longer be illegal immigrants.
Then there are some other traits such as homosexuality – where science has yet to conclusively prove one way or the other whether such a trait is inherent. My question is what the SPLC wants to do with pedophiles and person’s with psychotic disorders. After all, there are plenty of “scientists” who don’t believe pedophiles can control their behavior – so I suppose that makes legislation singling out sex offenders “hate legislation” since it denigrates an entire class of people based upon a characteristic they can’t change.
My question is what comes next? Weight, perhaps? Are we going to start suggesting that people who enjoy stuffing their faces with cookies, cakes, and pies shouldn’t have to watch “hate commercials” featuring Jared the Subway Guy suggesting that they can lose weight by eating at Subway? Or perhaps they shouldn’t be exposed to intolerant teaching about exercise and proper diet. Perhaps some of the instigators I saw at the last Simcox event should spend less time on disrupting events and more time on a stairmaster. If they can’t “reconquista” their waist line, I don’t see how they can “reconquista” the rest of us.
Hmm
11/12/07 @ 8:14pm
Paul Kurkul,
Were you one of those Stormfront people?
Mel
11/12/07 @ 9:44pm
Of course YAF isn’t going to be upfront about where its money is coming from. They are just one more “conservative”, right-wing, fascist, anti-American hate group. It would be too in keeping with Americanism to be honest for them. It is too bad they hate this country and its ideals so much. Their zeal could have been channeled into something good for America.
J. Edward Tremlett
11/12/07 @ 10:06pm
From the SPLC’s Intelligence Project: General Hate
“The organizations in this category are subdivided into six smaller categories. They include anti-gay groups, organizations that go beyond mere disagreement with homosexuality by subjecting gays and lesbians to campaigns of personal vilification; Holocaust denial groups that insist that Nazi Germany did not engage in a conscious attempt to commit genocide against European Jews; racist music groups, typically white power music labels that record, publish and distribute racist music in a variety of genres; and “radical traditionalist Catholic” groups, organizations that embrace anti-Semitism and whose theology is typically rejected by the Vatican and mainstream Catholics in general. A final “other” sub-category includes groups espousing a variety of hateful doctrines.”
That’s where MSU YAF (not YAF as a whole) wound up, and that’s most likely because they espouse “a variety of hateful doctrines.” You could make the argument that they subject gays and lesbians to campaigns of personal vilification, too.
Jason Van Dick
11/12/07 @ 10:19pm
You know, I have some serious self hate going on. Look at me. I’m a bucktoothed cowboy who has developed a seriously debilitating compulsion for “riding bareback.” I get chronic staff infections from cajoling around on hot, sweaty mats with my “sparring partners” in YAF. Do you hear about me putting myself on hate lists like The Southern Pervert Lunatic Center (SPLC) does? No. You don’t. It just doesn’t make sense.
Joe Blaim
11/12/07 @ 10:28pm
Of course The State News should keep debunking this hate group at every turn. It’s not like you can ignore them and think they’ll go away. This group NEVER misses an opportunity to insert itself into the public consciousness with their despicable antics. And, why deny the hate group designation? Anyone even paying attention to the headlines (let alone actually knowing how members conduct themselves) can see the truth for themselves. YAF is just like the klan in that discovering that they’ve chosen something you believe to support brings only shame!
Mike Saelim
11/12/07 @ 10:52pm
“Then there are some other traits such as homosexuality – where science has yet to conclusively prove one way or the other whether such a trait is inherent.” —Jason Van Dyke
Jason, science hasn’t conclusively proven whether heterosexuality is inherent, either. You just grew up supposing so.
Next time you want to argue against homosexuality as being of a different class of traits than heterosexuality, I would suggest thinking about the possible counterarguments.
Jason Van Dyke
11/13/07 @ 1:01am
Mike – Ok, fine. Lets say I were to agree with you. It wouldn’t matter for the purpose of making my point. I could concede that science has yet to prove anything regarding whether homosexuality or heterosexuality is inherent, and in doing so, concede that all we have on the subject is theory. It doesn’t matter because, if neither homosexuality nor heterosexuality are shown to be “inherent”, then the definition of a group as a “hate group” based on its being either anti-homosexual or anti-heterosexual would fail based upon the SPLC’s own terms.
In short: Until it can be proven whether one or the other meets the definition of an inherent trait, a group exhibiting any kind of bias against that group can not be considered a “hate group” according to the SPLC’s own definition of the term.
Jason Van Dyke
11/13/07 @ 1:21am
J. Edward further demonstrates the hypocrisy of the SPLC in posting a quote from their own website. Again, the SPLC has been quoted numerous times as a group with an ideology that denigrates an entire class of people for their inherent trait. So what about groups that insist that Nazi Germany did not engage in a conscious attempt to commit genocide against European Jews? Well, what if I were to say that Nazi Germany did make such an attempt, but actually exterminated around 100,000 European Jews and not the 6 million traditionally claimed. I wouldn’t fall into the technical definition of a Holocaust denier, but I am willing to bet that the SPLC would be highly offended by that point of view.
I find it funny that they mention racist music groups, typically white power music labels that record, publish and distribute racist music in a variety of genres. I have never personally heard that kind of music before know it exists. But I want to do an experiment. Why don’t we randomly pick a white supremacist record, and then randomly pick a best-selling hip hop album. We listen to both and count usages of the N-word and references to committing violent acts against police and members of minority groups. At the end, we count them up and see which record has more usage of the N word and more references to committing violent acts against police and members of minority groups. We could argue that the context of the N word is different in the two albums, but the question remains whether the use of the N word is EVER appropriate.
Being Catholic, I also find amusing the phrase “radical traditionalist Catholic” groups, organizations that embrace anti-Semitism and whose theology is typically rejected by the Vatican and mainstream Catholics in general. This is a fancy way of referring to Catholics who celebrate the Tridentine Mass – which remains a valid Mass under Canon Law – and was the only Mass celebrated until the second Vatican council. Since Pope Benedict has been working to reconcile such groups with the church, I can’t help but wonder how long it will be before the SPLC declares the Catholic Church as a whole to be a hate group.
Of court, the “other” sub-category for “groups espousing a variety of hateful doctrines” is designed for groups that don’t fit the definition of a hate group, but which the SPLC has decided to defame with the term because it disagrees with that group’s politics. YAF probably fits into the “other” category because this listing of MSU-YAF aside Klan groups probably defamation “per se”.
J. Edward Tremlett
11/13/07 @ 8:24am
And once again, Jason shows us that, even with four badly-phrased paragraphs, he still can’t dodge the central question: is MSU YAF a hateful organization?
Some of the evidence gathered by YAF-Watch, and chronicled elsewhere (most often from the Spartan Spectator, itself) would indicate yes.
Meanwhile, all Jason can do is accuse the SPLC of having it in for them, and bring up technicalities that in no way, shape or form get MSU YAF off the hook.
MSU Alumni
11/13/07 @ 5:59pm
I think the thing everyone here is forgetting, is that this group thrives on attention. The YAF has no power over your lives, so why let them bother you?
There are too many other groups out there that have messages that are severely offensive to many people, but go un-noticed because people can IGNORE them. Do not give YAF satisfaction by providing them with attention. Without attention and controversy, their funding will dry up and the organization will whither and die.
So long as you continue to argue on chat boards like this, the StateNews will qualify YAF as worthy print material and continue to write about them.