Public response to Gianforte Hall proposal grows ahead of regents’ meeting

The majority of public comment offered during a listening session Wednesday, April 27, about MSU’s proposal to name its new computer sciences building Gianforte Hall was in opposition of the naming, but an ASMSU Senate Resolution opposing the naming did not pass.

MSU is proposing the name to recognize a $50 million donation by the Gianforte Family Foundation that will fund the construction of the building. The proposal, which will be presented to the Montana University System’s Board of Regents at its meeting on May 18 and 19, has stirred controversy because of Gov. Greg Gianforte’s current office and his legislative support for laws targeting LGBTQ people.

Of the 20 people who commented at the listening session, 18 were against the proposal.

People said the proposed naming of the building goes against the university’s values of inclusion because of the policies the governor has supported against LGBTQ people.

“We cannot, as a university, continue to take one step forward and two steps back,” Marquayvion Hughes, a diversity and inclusion ambassador on campus, said. “As a person of color it’s already very hard to feel like you fit in on this campus, and as a queer person of color it is immensely harder.”

In 2021, Gianforte signed bills into law preventing transgender women from participating in women’s sports and requiring transgender Montanans to provide evidence of surgery to a court to change the gender on their birth certificate. He also signed the Religious Freedom Resoration Act into law, which opponents said could allow discrimination against LGBTQ people using religion. 

The Gianforte Family Foundation has donated money to organizations categorized by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) as hate groups, Parker said. According to a 2018 tax filing published by ProPublica, the foundation donated $50,000 to the Alliance Defending Freedom, one of the groups identified by the SPLC, which has supported required sterilization for transgender people and anti-LGBTQ policy. 

Madelyn Mettler, a Ph.D. student in chemical engineering, said having the governor’s name attached to the current Gianforte School of Computing – created after a previous $8 million donation from the foundation – was already a “slap in the face” to female, minority and LGBTQ students. Adding his name to the building would be an endorsement of his political and personal activity, she said.

Braeden Hunt, a computer science major, said Gov. Gianforte would be in violation of MSU’s student code of conduct if he was attending MSU because he pled guilty to misdemeanor assault after body-slamming a reporter in 2017.

The Board of Regents’ policy on naming buildings specifies that property can’t be named after someone currently employed by the university system or state of Montana. 

Many of the people commenting said naming the building Gianforte Hall, though referring to the Gianforte Family Foundation, would still create a conflict of interest because the name would be understood as referring to Gov. Gianforte himself.

“Montana State University’s naming of this building would unavoidably create the perception of endorsing or supporting a sitting incumbent governor who is expected to run for reelection,” David Parker, head of the department of political sciences, said in a statement on behalf of the department. He said MSU would be putting itself in a position to offer free political advertising for candidates.

Tracy Ellig, vice president of communications for MSU, said it would be up to the Board of Regents to interpret the policy as it applies to the naming of the building. He also noted that a section of the policy allows for exceptions to be made for large gifts.

Thomas Cuezze, a political science student and one of the people who spoke in support of the naming, said the gift will help many students enter careers in computer science and the new building will be “an enormous resource for students on campus.”

“I think the thing to do here is to take his money and run with it,” Cuezze said.

The ASMSU Senate discussed a resolution on Thursday, April 28, that would have opposed the naming and proposed naming the building after state symbols such as the bitterroot flower or cutthroat trout and placing a plaque honoring the donation inside the building.

The senate ultimately voted to table the resolution after senators said it did not clearly communicate the variety of opinions expressed by students and needed more due diligence.

“I’m not sure that we can encompass the student voice in a nuanced manner through a resolution such as this,” Caroline Roeder, senator for the College of Agriculture, said.

At the senate meeting, John Paxton, the director of the school of computing, which was established six years ago, said donations from the Gianforte family have allowed the school to hire more faculty and create new degree programs, such as an artificial intelligence certificate.

“Never once in those six years has a student come to me and said ‘I can’t do a degree from the Gianforte School of Computing because I can’t accept the name,’” Paxton said.

He said computer sciences degrees are inclusive for all students. “I only see this gift as being productive,” he added.

The listening session, which is a required part of the proposal process under the Board of Regents policy, was recorded and will be provided to the board along with written comments for the May meeting. Comments can be emailed to msunews@montana.edu until Monday, May 16.