I'll have to vigorously disagree with "relatively conservative." They are a far left as any other university in the country.
Having grown up in East Lansing, and having a father on the faculty, and having graduated from MSU, and having read the State News for many years, and knowing Lou Anna Simon personally, and having been Facebook friends with the children of a generation of the faculty - I can say that MSU is as liberal as the day is long.