To the Journal editor:

Northern (Michigan University) acknowledges that the main criticism of (Gov. Rick) Snyder as commencement speaker has to do with the Flint water crisis. It has not denied that thousands of Flint children may suffer cognitive deficits the rest of their lives because of lead poisoning. Nor has it denied that pipe corrosion probably led to 87 people contracting Legionnaires disease, 12 of whom died.

Instead, it argues that in evaluating the Snyder choice, we should consider the Flint crisis in a wider context that includes Snyder’s many achievements. But that wider context must also include the way that Snyder has been complicit in undermining a fundamental right of Michigan citizens.

The Michigan Constitution gives citizens the right to override through referendums laws passed by the legislature, except appropriation bills. Snyder and Republican legislators have abused this provision by attaching arbitrary appropriations to unpopular bills in order to make them referendum proof.

They did this with the controversial right to work bill. Their most egregious use of this tactic, however, occurred after Snyder signed a crisis manager law that was so unpopular that it was defeated in a referendum. In 2012, Republicans attached an appropriation to a revised version of the law thereby making it referendum proof. It is this law that enabled Snyder to appoint Flint’s crisis manager whose actions triggered the Flint catastrophe.

If we widen the context further to include national issues, we must consider the fact that although Snyder abstained from endorsing Trump, he was not brave enough to support Clinton. Whatever remorse Snyder may have felt about whatever ways his administration failed the predominantly black city of Flint, it did not lead him to denounce a Trump candidacy that was jumpstarted by the birther controversy.

In considering how to weigh all the conflicting elements of the wider context, try imagining Northern located in Flint, not Marquette, and its graduating class overwhelmingly black rather than white. Would that Northern still choose Snyder as its speaker? If not, what does this say about its present choice?

On Saturday, Snyder will speak at Northern. I hope that the graduates will choose not to just sit and listen, but instead to find a respectful way to express their solidarity with Flint’s residents, especially those who are coming to Marquette to stand against Snyder.