The WKU Student Government Association held a judiciary council hearing of censure accusing President Cole Bornefeld of interacting with anti-LBGTQ+ content on his Instagram.

The hearing took place at 4:30 p.m. on Feb. 17 in Downing Student Union. The hearing was requested by Yulia “Julie” Mishchuk, Speaker of the Senate. The meeting, which was attended by members of the Queer Student Union and both the Administrative and Executive Vice Presidents Sam Kurtz and Garrison Reed, was regarding several anti-transgender posts liked by Bornefeld on his Instagram.

“There is a trial today between the Plaintiff Julie Mishchuk and the defendant Cole Bornefeld,” Chief Justice Justin Goins said. “Bornefeld is accused of liking an Instagram post in which the plaintiff Julie Mishchuk believes to be transphobic. The plaintiff…argues Bornefeld’s actions reflect poorly on SGA and create[s] a harmful environment for trans identifying students.”

The trial, presided over by Goins, allowed each individual to present their case in a three minute speech, with the opportunity for additional time if the justices’ voted so.

Mishchuk said it was “reprehensible” for a public person to “publicly endorse” Instagram posts that “deny the existence” of transgender individuals.

“Public displays of transphobia should not be tolerated in this organization,” Mishchuk said. “That’s why I’m advocating for censure. The reason we’re here today is because I was sent screenshots of [Bornefeld] publicly endorsing extremely harmful transphobic posts on Instagram by a senator concerned about his behavior.”

Bornefeld’s Instagram is private but Mishchuk received several screenshots from a SGA senator who was concerned about the posts. Mishchuk said she “did not feel comfortable” naming the senators during the justices’ questioning. 

The post Mishchuk showed the justices read “roses are red, violets are blue, women don’t have penises.” The post was published on Turning Point USA’s Instagram.

“This rhetoric denied the existence of trans people,” Mishchuk said. “It’s reprehensible to be publicly endorsed by the SGA president through liking these posts, that are very visible for everyone to see.”

“The actions of President Bornefeld go against everything we stand for as an organization,” Mishchuk added.

Despite the justice’s question that Mishchuk, prior to the meeting, joked that she “loved the drama,” she said that because Bornefeld had SGA “prominently displayed” in his biography on the app it was “absolutely disgraceful to engage with posts” and was worried it reflected poorly on the SGA whose mission is to put WKU students’ interests first. She also brought up concerns about Bornefeld’s nominations saying transgender individuals who wanted to join SGA would likely not be nominated.

“You may think liking, tweeting, or reposting on social media is not discrimination but it’s a prerequisite for hate speech and other forms of discrimination,” Mishchuk said.

Towards the end of her speech, Mishchuk shared a letter she received from QSU worried about the “lack of respect and visibility” given to transgender individuals. QSU officially removed SGA from a list of safe spaces on campus, according to Mishchuk.

“This is supposed to be an unbiased branch of SGA, I understand that Cole has nominated a lot of you, I understand that a censure is just a slap on the wrist for this kind of behavior, but trans students will notice,” Mishchuk said.”And trans students will listen to this and this hearing today communicates something on its own. It’s not about the results of this hearing, it’s about showing that actions have consequences.”

After Mishchuk’s speech in favor of censure, Bornefeld spoke saying he was “deeply concerned and disappointed” by Mishchuk and said he remembers her claiming she was going to be “a thorn in [his] side” since the day he was sworn into office.

“We got to work on day one and I made it my mission to eliminate the pettiness and childish behavior that has plagued SGA for many years,” Bornefeld said. “We got to work and put students back in the center of the equation. Anytime there is success there is going to be people there to attempt to tear you down and tear down the people around you.”

Bornefeld said he worked hard to “keep politics out of” SGA and said “attempting to censure someone because of their personal God-given right to freedom of speech” was unacceptable and goes against “who we are as SGA, WKU or as Americans.”

“Speaker Mishchuk has attempted to pull SGA into a political game that I wholeheartedly reject,” Bornefeld said. “Speaker Mishchuk, if you want to play politics I encourage you to join a political organization on this campus. On what grounds does Speaker Mishchuk have to dictate what I can like, share, or comment in my personal capacity. ”

After the deliberation Goins announced the unanimous decision not to censure Bornefeld.

“The justices could not find any basis for discrimination in the current WKU constitution,” Goins said. 

At the time of publications the official, written opinion by the Judicial Council has not been released.

Mishchuk said she understood why the decision was reached but was glad she raised the issue in the first place.

“I understand why they voted the way that they did but I believe in my case, I believe that it did fall under the non-discrimination clause and I believe that there should have been a censure,” Mishchuk said. “But I honestly think just having this hearing was enough in speaking out against that kind of behavior.”

Mishchuk said she did not expect Bornefeld’s “character attack” but said she is “used to it at this point.” She said she will continue to watch for any other discriminatory comments and if necessary ask for another censure hearing.

Bornefeld said he appreciated the decision of the justices.

“I appreciate the unanimous decision by the justices,” Bornefeld said. “If Mishchuk would like to run for president, I would encourage her to take this energy and put it towards something productive.”

Peydon Hall, a member of QSU since the fall 2021, said they were “fucking disgusted” by the decision and said it was the right move to remove SGA from the safe space list.

“Me and a few others don’t think that student government has our best interest at heart,” Hall said.

Administration reporter Michael Crimmins can be reached at [email protected].