MSU Board of Trustees meeting on Friday, April 11, 2025. Photo by Erick Diaz Veliz
On Friday morning, the Michigan State University Board of Trustees meeting at the Hannah Administration Building was disrupted several times by members of the public who advocated for issues including climate change and sexual assault awareness.
Terry Link, 65, founding director of the MSU Office of Campus Sustainability from 2000 to 2009, raised his hand several times without being seen while the board discussed the approval of the Spartan Gateway District.
The project is a major redevelopment effort aimed at transforming about 14 acres located at the southwest side of campus. It will include a hotel, market-rate housing, retail shops, restaurants, office space, parking, a roughly 6,000-seat arena for Olympic sports, and potential future facilities for academic or healthcare purposes.
Terry Link, founding director of MSU’s Office of Campus Sustainability from 2000 to 2009, speaks at the MSU Board of Trustees meeting on Friday, April 11, 2025. Photo by Erick Diaz Veliz
Before the project was approved by the board, Link stood up and walked toward the podium. He emphasized what he said would be the project’s deceptive ecological impact and called for a reconsideration of its approval. His voice was drowned out by the audience’s applause and the insistent request by board secretary Stefan Fletcher for him to sit quietly.
Regardless, Link expressed his desire to bring up the environmental impact issue, claiming it was something that he needed to do before the approval could be made.
“The university continues to grow. With that growth, we construct new buildings, but instead of building, we’ll be destroying a large number of trees. As we continue to expand, we leave behind an immense footprint,” said Link. “Development we can no longer sustain. We have to reduce. We are exceeding our planet’s capacity. If we don’t change this, younger generations will have no place to live.”
The project was approved 5-1, with the lone no vote from Trustee Myke Balow.
As Trustee Rema Vassar was finishing her final comment of the meeting, Valery Von Frank, director Parents of Sister Survivors Engage, or POSSE, an organization made up of survivors and parents from ex-MSU doctor Larry Nassar’s abuse, disrupted the meeting from the back of the room.
“None of you have talked about sexual assault awareness,” said Von Frank in her disruption. “You don’t remember. We don’t recall. It should be on the agenda, and yet you spend all your time reading other things.”
Earlier this year, this organization called for an investigation into three MSU trustees: Brianna Scott, Kelly Tebay, and Renee Knake Jefferson, arguing that they had violated the board policy that defines trustees’ fiduciary responsibilities.
“MSU has too soon forgotten what happened on this campus when 547 survivors came forward to MSU about the sexual assault that were committed by their employee,” Von Frank declared after the meeting ended.
Valery Von Frank, Director of POSSE (Parents of Sister Survivors Engage) speaks at the MSU Board of Trustees meeting on Friday, April 11, 2025. Photo by Erick Diaz Veliz
The board did not provide any comment on the allegations Link and Von Frank made during the meeting, which followed the arrest of 19 people the night before during a pro-Palestinian sit-in protest held inside the building’s lobby.
The only comment that addressed the arrests during the meeting was from Balow, who stated that the university cares for students regardless of nationality or belief and that they will always be open to dialogue.
“As long as we are talking and discussing issues under the flag that guarantees our free speech, which many people have died for, we will move in the right direction. So, let’s deal with each other on a human level, lower the temperature, and seek to understand one another.” said Balow.
Beyond that, no member of the board directly addressed the arrests.
David Hogan, 20, a social relations and policy student and member of the Hurriya Coalition, who was part of the group of students who engaged in a dialogue table with university officials, said he wasn’t surprised nothing was said about the arrests.
“They refuse to acknowledge the arrests because acknowledging the arrests would mean they would be forced to admit that they chose to have students arrested rather than actually working in any constructive way to come to some sort of agreement, or even a commitment to work towards some sort of agreement,” Hogan said.
A request for comment on the arrests, as well as the statements made by Link and Frank, was sent by the Advance to a university spokesperson, but was not returned.
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