NOTE: Though this isn’t our usual content, we received these screenshots from an individual affiliated with the MSU College Republicans groupchat and we believe they need to be publicized.
NOTE 2 (11/23 11:05 PM): MSU College Republicans emailed The Evening Look a statement about this issue that has been added to the bottom of the article. The headline and article have been tentatively revised accordingly pending future developments.
Updated again at 6:30 on 11/24 to clarify the nature of the violation in the last paragraph.
On November 23rd at 3:45pm, James Madison College sent an email from the Interim Dean, Linda Racioppi, describing a situation in which an Instagram account was “sending sexually explicit messages to James Madison College students.”
Screenshots from the MSU College Republicans groupchat, “The Best Party on Campus!”, obtained by The Evening Look detail efforts to interfere with a groupchat for James Madison College (JMC) students. One member of this chat created a fake Instagram account to harass JMC students; as part of the harassment, he sent a student porn with the account.
The incident appears to have been triggered by arguments between liberal and conservative students in a James Madison College groupchat. A number of students active in the College Republicans chat appear to advocate harassing students and encouraged the member to make such accounts which led to the sexual harassment.
On November 5 at 10pm, Moe Al-Khafaji, a member of the College Republicans groupchat, stated his intention to make the “burner” account to “troll” students:
It should be noted that Al-Khafaji is not a freshman or a member of JMC.
Ten minutes later, at 10:12PM, Moe shares a screenshot of his fake Instagram account, @bidenharrisstan (the account has since been deleted). He then receives encouragement from other members in the group.
At 10:20PM, Moe mentions he has followed “3-4 of em” with the fake account, then adds a screenshot of who he sent messages to, sending “Heyyyy” to a number of female students.
In this photo, Max Valenti is seen advocating for sending users from /b/, 4chan’s random board, to troll the JMC ‘24 groupchat.
At 10:30pm, Moe shares a screenshot that one of the students accepted his follow request while other members in the chat send words of encouragement and ask to stay updated on the topic. Members Ethan Rylko, Isabella Agrusa, Haleigh Austin, Rebecca Amison, and McKinzie Nicolai all ‘liked’ his statement.
It’s apparent in the messages that students in the College Republicans groupchat were not aware Moe was planning to send porn to these students and may not condone that particular action, but were active in encouraging his attempts to harass them.
Then, Moe announces he’s been messaged by an outside individual demanding to know about porn sent from @bidenharrisstan to their friend, sending a screenshot of the exchange in the College Republicans groupchat. In the picture, Moe responds, “Nice,” with a thumbs up emoji.
Afterwards, Max Valenti follows up for clarification, asking if Moe actually had sent the student porn. Moe replies, “No comment.” at 6:47PM. The group stops messaging about the issue after the exchange, indicating no other student had raised concerns about the behavior.
It’s important to note that it is sexual harassment and at the very least against MSU’s sexual harassment policy to expose someone to sexual content without their consent. These messages are directly from the “Best Party on Campus!” group chat, which at the time had a membership of over 150 individuals (though over half of the members had the chat muted), including current and former students at Michigan State. These screenshots raise serious concerns about the conduct of the student group and the behavior of many active members to advocate and encourage any harassment against students, whether they were knowledgeable about the pornography prior or not.
-The Evening Look Team
MSU College Republicans statement:
It has come to our attention tonight that an individual who is not associated with the College Republicans at Michigan State University sent sexually explicit messages to a student here at Michigan State University.
The group chat where this took place is available to all students who attend MSU and was created to encourage political based discussion. We want to make it clear that this individual is not a member of the College Republicans, nor do they represent our values. Neither the executive board nor any members of the club were involved or encouraged this immature act.
The College Republicans at Michigan State University condemn any form of harassment or bullying. Additionally, as a club, we continue to encourage and support any and all friendly political discourse.
As someone who attends this school I hope the school properly disciplines them. This is messed up.
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