05/18/2026
My statement on the absolute absurd actions by the MSU Board of Trustees last night. Please share this far and wide. People need to know what is happening.
"Last night, while much of the Spartan community was getting ready for bed or watching the Pistons game, the Michigan State University Board of Trustees quietly called an “emergency” meeting and passed a deeply troubling new “Code of Ethics.”
Don’t let the title fool you. This isn’t about ethics.
It’s about control.
The new policy is designed to discourage individual trustees from publicly disagreeing with Board decisions. In practice, it pressures trustees to present a forced “united front” and punishes those willing to speak openly when they believe something is wrong.
Under this new policy, trustees are expected to sign the Code of Ethics every year — and those who refuse can face censure and other punishment from the Board itself.
As a mom whose child just graduated from Michigan State, that should concern every parent, alum, student, faculty member, and taxpayer in Michigan.
For the past two years, my campaign promise has been simple: to serve as an independent voice on a Board where I would almost certainly be in the minority. I have never promised to “go along to get along.” I have promised transparency, accountability, and the courage to speak up when others will not.
Transparency matters most when decisions are difficult or controversial. Universities do not improve by silencing dissent. They improve when leaders are willing to ask hard questions, challenge one another, and tell the truth — even when it is uncomfortable.
We should all remember the lessons of the Larry Nassar scandal. The truth only emerged because survivors and others refused to stay silent in the face of institutional pressure and reputation management. The answer to past failures is not less transparency. It is more.
This policy does not protect Michigan State. It protects those in power from criticism and accountability.
As Trustee Mike Balow said, this vote was “an abomination.” I agree.
I’m running for the MSU Board of Trustees because I believe in a university that values transparency, accountability, open debate, and student safety above politics and image management.
The people of Michigan elect trustees to represent them — not to fall in line behind closed doors. When elected officials are discouraged from speaking freely, power shifts away from the public and toward a small group operating without meaningful accountability.
That is not healthy governance.
Maybe the current Board does not yet know what real dissent looks like.
Put a determined MSU mom who believes in transparency, accountability, and constitutional principles on that Board — and they will find out quickly.
And beyond the principle at stake, Michigan State taxpayers, students, parents, and alumni should be asking another important question: how many more millions of dollars will the university spend defending bad decisions made behind closed doors? MSU has already spent enormous sums on lawsuits, settlements, outside counsel, and crisis management stemming from failures in leadership and governance. Instead of learning from those mistakes, this Board appears determined to create yet another policy that invites legal challenges while further eroding public trust. Universities should be investing resources into students, academics, and campus safety — not repeatedly cleaning up preventable governance failures."
Thank you. ~ Julie Maday.
