The Southern Poverty Law Center's annual Hate Group list names more than 800 groups nationwide and 25 in Michigan, said Heidi Beirich, deputy director of the Intelligence Project, which is the branch in charge of making the list.

Kyle Bristow, the chairman of the MSU YAF, denies the claims SPLC is making against the chapter and said in an e-mail to Central Michigan Life the group will talk to lawyers in order to sue the SPLC for character defamation.

Beirich said the SPLC looks for physical ideologies found in mission statements, quotes from the leadership, Web sites and protests for signs of extremist or hate-related agendas.

"When The Nation of Islam says, 'All Americans are blonde-haired blue-eyed devils,' that throws up a red flag for us," Beirich said.

Dennis Lennox II, Topinabee sophomore and YAF president at CMU, said YAF is a mainstream organization, not an extremist group, and calling it such is "laughable and asinine."

Bristow's agenda"

One of the biggest factors leading to SPLC's decision was the 13-point agenda Bristow posted in October on MSU's undergraduate student government Web site.

Beirich said the most troubling aspects of Bristow's agenda included putting an end to funding for all non-heterosexual groups on campus, hunting down and deporting illegal immigrants and creating an "All-White Male council."

The 13-point agenda was removed shortly after Bristow was removed from his position as Student Assembly representative.

Lennox said he did not see why the CMU chapter would have any reaction or anything to say about what has happened.

"We are a different group," he said. "It would be like asking the Delta Zetas here to be accountable for the ones in Indiana."

Lennox said the CMU YAF chapter is one of the oldest chapters in the country and was founded almost 40 years ago, the same year as the national chapter.

No investigation plans

Beirich said the SPLC has no intention at this point of investigating any other YAF groups - the focus is solely on the MSU chapter and Bristow's leadership.

"We found out about it (MSU YAF's activities) the way everyone else did, because the media covered it," Beirich said.

She said YAF nationally is not sexist, racist or extremist; it is a group based on conservative ideals, and those ideals are not the ones that worry her.

"Kyle Bristow is incredibly anti-gay," Beirich said. "And (he is) terribly insensitive to immigration, to the point of trying to organize a 'catch an illegal immigrant day.'"

Bristow accused the SPLC of only being interested in talking to the media. He said the SPLC has never contacted him, the adviser of YAF, or anyone in MSU's YAF chapter.

"They are only interested in talking to the media for attention," Bristow said. "The media probably knows more about the whole situation than I do."

Lennox said the situation is unfortunate and the decision is misguided, but it will not affect the way YAF at CMU operates.

"We are going to stand by Kyle Bristow and YAF as a whole," Lennox said.

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