All of us as students and concerned community members are coming before you to announce our campaign, Students Against Genocide. As students at an R1, Land Grant research university, we believe that it is our responsibility to hold this institution to the highest standards of ethics. Over the past few months, as individuals, we have engaged in research regarding the University’s partnership with companies that are tied to genocide and its involvement in research of technology of mass surveillance. These past few months have revealed findings that we feel are not only morally reprehensible, but harm MSU’s position as a leading research institution.

These past few months, multiple students have reached out to and/or met with MSU representatives of the MSU and the Innovation Campus. When asking about ethics policies, students usually received the response that MSU follows ethical policies as stated by the MSU Institutional Review Board. However, the MSU IRB policies primarily relate to human subjects being researched, not the ethical implications of the research itself nor the specific sources of research funding, specifically in the case of military surveillance technology research. When asking about ethical policies for financial and research partnerships at the Innovation Campus, a member of the MSU Research Integrity & Compliance team stated that the Innovation Campus was outside of the bounds of the University. Students who attended public events at the Innovation Campus were met with spokespeople skirting around questions regarding military partnerships. 

In December, after students and concerned community members engaged in their own personal research, we came together to attend the University Council meeting, sharing our dissatisfaction with MSU’s involvement with genocidal companies and research projects. The students heard no response to their pleas until officially launching our campaign two weeks ago. Since launching, we have garnered 671 signatures on our petition and responded to an invitation from Brock Tessman and his council to discuss our campaign this past Monday. 

While we are grateful for this meeting on Monday, the meeting solidified that the university does not have sufficient ethics policies regarding the implications of research that can be conducted at this institution, nor the leasing policies of the Innovation Campus. We recognize that though the Innovation Campus is owned and operated by the Alumni Foundation and Charter Realty, MSU has decision making power that can affect who is leasing space within the Innovation Campus. 

We recognize that this campaign is demanding substantial change that cannot happen overnight. In these next few months, we expect further communication regarding such ethics policies and if MSU cannot sway the Alumni Foundation, we expect ties to be severed with the Innovation Campus. We will continue to do our research into such partnerships that exist on the Innovation Campus and within the broader MSU campus. We will also continue to reveal such partnerships to the student body because at the very least, we believe in transparency and that we all have a right to know the inner workings of this institution that we call home. 

Our three demands are listed here. We also ask that a summary of our comments be shared in the public minutes of this University Council meeting.