February 27, 2026
In Two Different Outlets, MSU Trustee Writes Essays Demanding Better Support For Black Students
Vassar's demands come amid growing tension with university leaders, who says she has mischaracteried the state of the school’s diversity and equity efforts.
A Michigan State University (MSU) trustee has demanded that the institution provide better support for Black students. In two different op-eds for two different different outlets.
Last month, Rema Vassar wrote an op-ed for Bridge Michigan about how MSU had “zero legal justification” to continue dismantling DEI efforts on campus as directed by the Trump administration because a federal judge ruled the administration could not withhold funds from institutions maintaining DEI programs.
“On January 21, the Trump administration dropped its legal appeal of a federal court ruling that found its anti-DEI guidance unconstitutional,” Vassar wrote. “MSU now stands exposed: Every decision to dismantle equity infrastructure was a choice, not a legal requirement.”
In her piece, Vassar wrote that MSU stripped the Council of Racial and Ethnic Students (CORES) of its departmental organizational status. The organization, established in 1990, lost office space, direct advising, and funding to support Black students and other students of color.
She added that as MSU dismantled support systems, students faced escalating violence at an institution where anti-Black violence has plagued the campus, including nooses in school stores and racial slurs painted on campus buildings.
Vassar demanded that MSU restore CORES, restore the position of the vice president for diversity, equity, and inclusion, and do more to support students of color on campus.
MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz told The State News, MSU’s student-run media outlet, that he and other administrators were disappointed by Vassar’s piece.
In response to university leaders, Vassar wrote a second essay published in the Michigan Chronicle.
She said her claims from Black students and the community could be verified if MSU were to release disaggregated data on the “enrollment, graduation, time to degree, academic probation, student debt, and climate for Black students.”
Vassar said the data would reveal a history of MSU not attending to the needs of Black students.
“Black enrollment has remained stagnant for roughly three decades,” she wrote. “In a state where Black communities have borne the brunt of economic restructuring, environmental racism, and educational disinvestment, MSU’s failure to significantly expand access and completion for Black students is not an accident. It is a choice.”
In a statement, University Spokesperson Amber McCann told The State News in that “although there is room for improvement, the 6-year graduation rate for African American/Black students at MSU is among the highest in the state.”
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