Students for a Democratic Society alleged MSU "intimidated student free speech”

On Sept. 30, MSU’s chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) engaged in a protest against Barnard Construction at the career fair inside the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse. According to an SDS Instagram post on Sept. 30, Barnard Construction, a Bozeman-based company, was contracted by President Donald Trump’s Administration to construct a portion of the southern border wall in the Big Bend region of Texas. 

About a month before the event was scheduled, SDS demanded that the Allen Yarnell Center for Student Success and Career Services not include Barnard Construction in this year’s career fair. Barnard Construction participated in the career fair. 

At the fair, members of SDS stood silently beside Barnard Construction’s booth holding signs that read “Barnard’s border wall construction has high costs to the environment and immigrants, and diminishing returns,” among other statements.

Hours after the fair concluded, SDS posted a statement on Instagram alleging that MSU administration tried to “intimidate student free speech.” SDS stated that the day before the career fair, SDS leadership met with Dean of Students Matt Caires and other members of University administration — including Clubs and Involvement Program Coordinator Clara Commons, Sports Facility Office Event Coordinator Kelly Williams and Director of Events Services and Sports Facilities Chris Hayden. 

In the statement, SDS alleged that Caires informed them that “social activism inside the career fair will be considered disruptive behavior.” Further, SDS alleged that Caires said the decision of whether the event was disruptive would be up to campus officials “who would determine any social activism inside the career fair as disruptive,” the Instagram post read. 

SDS claims this statement directly contradicts MSU’s written policies and that Caires’ “threats” fail to uphold MSU’s policy. 

Further, SDS stated that “a silent showcase of signs is clearly not a substantial disruption of the career fair,” and that “MSU has shown that it has made a pre-determination that any conduct SDS would engage in would be ‘disruptive’, before actually seeing the conduct itself.”

In a statement to the Exponent on Sept. 30, Caires said the dean of students is the designated University official who works with students and student groups to explain the boundaries of expression policy and their First Amendment rights. Caires said in his meeting with SDS, his job was to help them understand that hosting a protest inside a building at MSU could be disruptive conduct. 

“I'm very clear in all of my comments: I never said anything [like] that ‘If you do this, you will get that,’” he said. “I was very clear. ‘If you do this, it could be that.’”

According to Caires, events in buildings like the Brick Breeden are limited public forums, which means students still have their freedom of speech, but that space is being used for a purpose and if their speech or protests are interrupting that purpose, then that could be a conduct code violation. 

At the time of publication, Caires said that no students have been charged with conduct violations and no complaints have been filed with his office. A complaint could be filed 60 days after an incident, Caires said. 

“If the students were intimidated by the conversation on free speech, I apologize for that,” he said. “I'm sorry that they felt intimidated.”

In its statement, SDS writes, “this type of purposeful intimidation against students — used in order to discourage activism that MSU disagrees with — is antithetical to the values of a public land-grant university. We wholeheartedly condemn this behavior by MSU admin and will continue to stand for our right to free speech.” 

This is a developing story that the Exponent will be expanding on in a future edition. This story was brought to the Exponent's attention shortly before publication deadline. The Exponent has obtained an audio recording of the meeting and is in the process of verifying the audio in relation to both parties' claims. Additionally, the Exponent is in possession of the code of conduct and is verifying MSU’s policies.