Update regarding General Counsel Message

Feb. 18, 2025

Dear Faculty and Academic Staff,

I write to follow up on the attached message that our Office of General Counsel (OGC) and I sent to the deans, directors, and chairs list today. First and foremost, I want to reassure you that MSU remains committed to our founding mission, and to our core values. I also want to acknowledge the concerns and uncertainty that members of our campus community may be experiencing related to programs promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion.

At this time, university leadership is actively assessing and interpreting federal actions and gathering additional information to gain greater clarity about potential impacts and implications. Once this initial step is completed, we will seek community input and provide additional guidance. 

If you have a question related to compliance and a specific program or activity here at MSU, please contact OGC via this form. An OGC attorney will review and provide guidance.

Again, we are actively gathering information and considering this issue, as well as others, and will soon communicate any plans of action, as appropriate. We are also thinking through plans to hold a number of virtual town hall meetings in the near future, with members of senior leadership from across the university participating, events that will be open to the entire MSU community. Until then, if you have not been explicitly directed to discontinue or alter your work, there is no MSU guidance to do so at this point. As the Rapid Response Teams, stewarded by Government Relations, gather and interpret information, additional working groups will be created that will include a broad range of stakeholders, to discuss specific impacts, policies, and practices that will guide our work in this political environment. I understand that the uncertainty can be alarming and that many are deeply impacted, directly or indirectly. Thank you for your patience and understanding as we carefully interpret and assess the language and implications for our campus. 

In the meantime, please be sure to reach out and connect with others across our communities. We are in this together and we will get through this together, as one team. 

Sincerely,

Thomas D. Jeitschko, Ph.D. (he/him)    
Interim Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs    
Professor, Department of Economics