Topinabee sophomore Dennis Lennox II, who organized the rally, began shouting “Racists go home !” at about 60 opponents of the proposal, who also rallied at Warriner Mall.

But in yelling those words, he offended some of his own supporters.

“He completely changed what the whole rally was about,” said Ferndale freshman Victoria Willmy. “I was completely offended by his actions.”

Willmy and fellow Proposal 2 supporter, Ortonville sophomore Matthew Spendlove, left the rally because of the chants and signs that were being presented.

Two students from Michigan State University and one from the University of Michigan showed up with signs stating “Smash Left-wing Scum” and “Affirmative Action equals state sponsored racism.”

“I’m a Democrat and a left-wing,” Spendlove said. “They (Lennox and the three students) are being ignorant with those signs.”

Spendlove said he is all for equality, but he doesn’t feel affirmative action is the best way to promote it.

Detroit sophomore Jerell Erves disagreed with Spendlove and said even with affirmative action in place universities still are predominately white.

“It’s a program based off of remedying racism,” Erves said. “It’s mostly predominately white people who are making the decisions about keeping affirmative action in place, and even after it, universities are still 80 percent white.”

The rally took place an hour and 45 minutes before “You Decide: The Future of Affirmative Action in Michigan,” a debate on the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative.

The MCRI, also known as Proposal 2 on the Nov. 7 ballot, is “a proposal to amend the state constitution to ban affirmative action programs that give preferential treatment to groups or individuals based on their race, gender, color, ethnicity or national origin for public employment, education or contracting purposes.”

Voting yes on the proposal would end race and gender-based affirmative action policies in public institutions, such as university admissions. Voting no would leave the state’s current policy on affirmative action unchanged.

“Affirmative action helps kids that really tried in high school and wouldn’t get to pursue higher education because of the neighborhoods they grew up in,” said Bad Axe junior Blaine Taylor. “If they get the opportunity to pursue higher education, they are more likely to go back and help out their communities to make them better.”

Shepherd senior Randall Fry was on his way to class when he stopped because of all the commotion outside of Warriner Hall.

Fry is a long-time student of and a child of the 60s. He said the rally brought back memories for him.

“I went through this with the Civil Rights Movement,” he said. “They want to remove this ineffectual Band-Aid, but don’t have another solution to the problem. If you are going to take away affirmative action, you need to replace it with something. Race and gender are not the way to achieve equality, but you need to find a socioeconomic answer.”

Officers from the CMU Police Department surrounded the area to make sure the rallies did not get out of hand.