Sweetgrass Society says Northern Senate denied freedom of speech

Members of Montana State University-Northern’s Sweetgrass Society accused the Associated Students of MSU-Northern Student Senate of violating their free speech rights as an organization by painting over a protest logo on the campus’ Hello Walk.

“It is disappointing that action was taken without prior notice or knowledge of the Sweetgrass Society,” the Sweetgrass Society said in a letter dated Nov. 28 and addressed to Student Senate President Randy Roeber.

The letter said the Senate infringed upon their free speech rights as an organization after painting over the hashtag logo #NODAPL, a slogan used to express opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline.

  The Student Senate did not respond to calls for comment before print deadline.

“The college is looking into the situation and we do not know enough about the situation to make a statement,” Northern Director of University Relations Jim Potter  said. “We will seek to do what is in the best interest of our students.”        

In an interview Monday, Roeber said the step was painted over after the logo was discovered on what he said was an unclaimed step on the walk.

Each year at the start of the fall semester, students paint the steps of the staircase that leads down to the Student Union Building with the logos of different student organizations.

Roeber said students had made the discovery and told the student vice president about the presence of the logo, who in turn told Roeber. He said that he, the vice president and the Student Senate advisors made the decision to paint over the step because the walk is not meant to be used to make political statements.   

In their letter, the Sweetgrass Society says the representatives of the group were told Nov. 21 the step was painted over by a student Senate officer because the presence of the hashtag logo on the step was considered vandalism.  

Sweetgrass Society members said Tuesday they were told informally by the Senate that the step was painted over after the action was taken, which they said is contrary to the Senate’s own policy.  

The letter said the Sweetgrass Society as a group painted the step Sept. 20 while other organizations were painting the walk and deny that the slogan constituted an act of vandalism.

“We do not believe that painting two steps on the Hello Walk on the same day that every other organization painted multiple steps warrants an accusation of vandalism,” the letter says.  

Roeber said that the step was not claimed by any organization and the slogan was likely not painted at that time, since it would have been spotted because officers of the Student Senate inspect the steps for any inappropriate messages while or immediately after the stairs are painted.

Sweetgrass Society members said in their letter that no written rules are provided to organizations about what can or cannot be painted by groups. They cite the example of a Bible verse written on one of the four steps claimed by the Chi Alpha, a nondenominational Christian group on campus.

They add the walk is considered a type of bulletin board for student organizations and thus the slogan is protected by the campus’ policy on free speech regarding bulletin boards, distribution and posting of written materials, which protects the free expression rights of students.

The letter says the Sweetgrass Society would like to review minutes from any meeting where the painting over of the steps was authorized or voted on. It adds that they would also like the logo painted back on the step.

Sweetgrass Society President Jade Failing said Tuesday that the group has expressed their grievance to the Senate, which has suggested that they bring up the matter at a town hall meeting the Senate is holding at 6 p.m. tonight in the Student Union Building Ballroom.

The meeting is being held to get input from students and the public about whether the Senate should vote to move forward at the next meeting of the Montana Association of Students with a resolution that would include all the campuses in the Montana State University system supporting the right of demonstrators in North Dakota to peacefully protest the construction of the proposed 1,172-mile Dakota Access Pipeline.

Failing said that the group is trying to get on the formal agenda of the town hall, but if they cannot, they intend to speak out during the meeting.