USA TODAY NETWORK
EAST LANSING – Michigan State University Trustee Rema Vassar told the State Journal she brought four people with her to the Board of Trustees meeting on Sept. 11 for personal security because of concerns for her safety following a controversial vote earlier this year.
After refusing to sign a new, controversial code of conduct for board members in May, Vassar, a Detroit Democrat, said she has had concerns about her safety. She added that she had been followed as she left her home, prompting her to hire her own personal security detail.
Vassar was one of two trustees who refused to sign the code of conduct, which was written by Board of Trustees Chair Brianna Scott, D-Muskegon and General Counsel Brian Quinn and was criticized by some trustees and First Amendment experts as restricting trustees’ ability to criticize the university.
Michigan State University trustee Rema Vassar addresses members of the press, Wednesday, June 3, 2026, during a joint press conference with fellow board member Mike Balow at the state Capitol in Lansing. The two defended their refusal to sign MSU’s updated code of conduct agreement for trustees.
Both Vassar and Mike Balow, a Plymouth Republican who is the lone GOP member on the board, were censured during the June board meeting for their refusal to sign the code of conduct. Due to the censure, they are prohibited from receiving the perks they are eligible for as trustees, including tickets to campus sporting events, for example.
East Lansing Democrat Dennis Denno voted against passing the new code of conduct in May, but did sign the agreement by the deadline.
The new rules were passed in a last-ditch effort to incentivize MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz to stay at the university after he was being recruited by other universities and cited board disfunction as one of his concerns. Guskiewicz announced his plans to leave the university to take the over the presidency at Clemson University in late May, but backed out in July.
Vassar said she and other trustees were doxed over the summer, which means they had their personal phone numbers and home addresses shared online.
“I don’t know that people have taken it seriously,” Vassar said. “But I take it seriously when someone shows up to my house.”
Vassar said she received robo-phone calls throughout the summer, and then some messages left by people describing her in offensive terms.
During the time she was receiving threats, Vassar said she was actively hosting a program for middle school and high schoolers at Wayne State University, where she is a professor.
“Two of the threats said very directly, ‘Do not come to East Lansing.’ One said ‘or else,’” Vassar told the State Journal. “When the (June) board meeting was coming up, I got another rash of robo-calls, and when all this was happening, there were no police outside my house.”
Vassar said she told MSU Police Chief Mike Yankowski about the threats, but she also went to a Detroit Police Department station to file a police report as well. The Detroit Police Department did not respond to a request for comment on Friday, Sept. 11.
MSU spokesperson Amber McCann said the MSU police department was made aware of the issues with all trustees during the summer, but she is not sure if any reports have been made more recently. She said protocol for MSU police includes the department reaching out to police where trustees live to try to set up potential police patrols. Vassar said the three trustees who live in East Lansing, Democrats Rebecca Bahar-Cook, Dennis Denno and Renee Knake Jefferson, all had police outside their houses, and Kelly Tebay, an Ann Arbor Democrat, also had a police officer.
Yankowski told the State Journal Friday that in June, the department worked with all eight trustees and reviewed emails, phone calls and messages received by trustees for criminal activity. He said his department worked to determine whether the messages rose to the level of a crime or if they were from people expressing their First Amendment rights. He said none of the messages rose to the level of a criminal charge and the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office was consulted.
Yankowski said the department was able to provide resources for local trustees, but that they also reached all the law enforcement agencies where trustees lived asking for additional assistance. He said the department also provided additional safety tips and had conversations with the board.
“Depending on which jurisdiction they lived in, the commitment from those law enforcement agencies was probably a bit different, but the same resources request went out for all trustees during that time period,” he told the State Journal. He did not specially address Vassar’s assertions.
“Anytime someone is sending information and expressing their opposition or anger, you would feel a little uneasy or anxiety potentially, and I’m not speaking for any of the individuals, but certainly, I think most people would be a little unnerved, if you were to get some, comments about your decisions or whatever comments were said,” Yankowski said.
Vassar said she told Guskiewicz about the threats as well as all the trustees.
“I told everyone I was receiving these threats and the response has been underwhelming, at best,” she said. “Certainly not supportive or protective, and I think that’s disappointing.”
Scott, said she was unaware of any direct threats made against Vassar until a stakeholder engagement forum on Thursday, Sept. 10, but said she doesn’t think it’s appropriate for any trustee to have a fear for their safety.
Scott said that she had received similar “unkind” phone calls, though she had never received a direct threat and has not been made aware of any specific threats made against Vassar.
“That being said, we’re public officials, and I understand, as part of our responsibilities being public facing, that sometimes that may lead to people wanting to talk to us maybe in spaces that we feel should not be places to handle those conversations,” she said. “I am sorry for her feeling that her safety is at risk, I certainly wouldn’t want that for anyone.”
“Nobody deserves to fear for their safety,” Guskiewicz told the State Journal after the meeting. “These are important roles that our trustees play to help move the university forward.”
Contact Karly Graham at kgraham@lsj.com. Follow her on X at @KarlyGrahamJrn.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: MSU trustee hires own security after threats against board members
Reporting by Karly Graham, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
