Michigan State University police have identified seven suspects involved in an attack on two university students in the school library on Monday after the group allegedly made offensive remarks based on the victims’ sexual identity.
“The suspects assaulted two victims, potentially selecting the victims because of the suspects’ sexual orientation bias,” MSU Police and Public Safety said in a statement on Tuesday.
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University officials said that “none of the suspects are affiliated with MSU” and added they’ll request prosecutors press charges once an investigation is complete.
The victims were harassed near the entrance on the library’s first floor, according to MSU spokesperson Emily Guerrant.
“The two MSU students then went to the third-floor study area to meet with some other friends,” Guerrant told MSU radio station WKAR, explaining the group of high school-age boys followed the students upstairs.
“At that point an altercation occurred,” Guerrant said.
MSU’s library is open to the public until 6:00 p.m. Officials say the attack occurred at 5:50 p.m. on Monday.
Shocking video posted to an anonymous message board shows the melee among the library stacks. School officials didn’t detail the victims’ injuries.
Officials pointed out the attack occurred during MSU’s LGBTQ Pride Month, “underscoring its significance.”
“Discrimination or harassment, including hate crimes, based on protected identities can have a significant impact,” school administrators said. “We want everyone to know that they deserve to feel safe and respected.”
Michigan state law currently considers only racial bias for hate crime consideration. Legislators have been debating the addition of other protected classes, including LGBTQ+ people, but have yet to get any proposal to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s (D) desk.
Michigan’s Attorney General Dana Nessel noted it won’t be possible for prosecutors to charge the suspects in this case with a hate crime if it’s solely over anti-LGBTQ+ bias.
“It’s not an included class under the Ethnic Intimidation Act,” Nessel said at a press availability on Tuesday. “It would be, under the proposed laws in both the House and the Senate. I have encouraged the Legislature to move forward on that, and this might be an example of why it’s so important to do so.”
Nessel has criticized proposed bills moving through the Democrat-controlled Michigan House and Senate as weak, particularly around sentencing guidelines for those convicted of hate crimes.
“Two years is nothing,” Nessel told Bridge Michigan. “Why not just give them a parking ticket?”
Michigan lawmakers did pass an “institutional desecration” bill last year that penalizes hate-motivated vandalism to churches, schools, museums, and community centers. That law addresses anti-LGBTQ+ bias.
Twenty-two states and Washington DC, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands have LGBTQ+-inclusive hate crime laws on the books. Another 11 have passed legislation that protects “sexual orientation” but not “gender identity”.
