Issue and Opposition: On March 26, 2021, while speaking at a North Oakland Republican Club meeting, Regent Ron Weiser of the University of Michigan indulged in inflammatory languages and stooped to name-calling when he labeled Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer; Dana Nessel, the state attorney general; and Jocelyn Benson, Michigan’s secretary of state, as the “three witches.” Weiser also used improper language (referring to assassination) when talking about Representatives Fred Upton and Peter Meijer. Weismer is the GOP Chair for Michigan and his misogynistic and aggressive comments against Whitmer, Nessel, Benson, Upton, and Meijer are politically motivated. Whitmer, Nessel, and Benson are three top Democrats from Michigan. Upton and Meijer are Republicans who supported Trump’s impeachment. Weiser, a significant donor to the Republican Party, is currently chairman of the Michigan GOP and previously served as chairman from 2009 to 2011 and from 2017 to 2019. Weiser has a long association with Republican Party. As a Regent of the University of Michigan, he began his position in 2016 after defeating the incumbent Regent Laurence Deitch of the Democratic Party. He chaired the board from 2019 to 2020. During this period, he was the only Republican member. Following his vitriolic comments, he faced scathing criticisms from the University of Michigan’s Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs (SACUA). SACUA called him out for his irresponsible usage of the anti-women, oppressive, and violent language despite being an elected leader of the University of Michigan and the state Republican Party. SACUA’s letter to Weiser was signed by almost 2000 faculty members of the university. On March 28, six female Deans of the University of Michigan along with another 14 Deans condemned Weiser’s comments. Earlier, Weiser had drawn flak for his controversial comments on the January 6 Capitol riot and the 2020 election prompting students and faculty members of the University of Michigan (Michigan’s largest public university) to demand his resignation from the university leadership. Some protesters, however, were not satisfied merely calling out Weiser and wanted to oppose him through non-violent actions. The dilemma action that was performed as a protest targeted Weismer for his remarks and was supported by the University of Michigan’s students, faculty, and staff.
Dilemma Action: Students, faculty, and staff at the University of Michigan gathered at Weiser Hall Saturday afternoon to hold a mock renaming of the building in response to inflammatory comments recently made by Regent Ron Weiser. Community members renamed the building the “Weiser Center for Voter Suppression, Political Assassination, and Witch Burning.”
Outcome: The Board of Regents of the University of Michigan voted 5-0-2 the very next day to censure Regent Ron Weiser. Further, Chairwoman Denise Ilitch (D) announced that Weiser would be henceforth removed from committee responsibilities. Weiser proved to be less heroic in his response to the criticisms and censure from the Senate and committees. He had earlier apologized in a statement (as reported by FOX2, Detroit, March 27, 2021): “In an increasingly vitriolic political environment, we should all do better to treat each other with respect, myself included. I fell short of that the other night. I apologize to those I offended for the flippant analogy about three women who are elected officials and for the off-hand comments about two other leaders. I have never advocated for violence and never will. While I will always fight for the people and policies I believe in, I pledge to be part of a respectful political dialogue going forward.” He left the Zoom hearing of the Senate midway, which again was criticized by the Senate members.