The Associated Students of Colorado State University convened Oct. 16 for the 10th session of the 54th Senate.
Following the swearing in of new senators and associates along with executive, legislative and judicial reports, during which each branch provided updates on their respective work, initiatives and upcoming events, the ratification of an additional member of the Legislative Strategy Advisory Board was held.
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Moving into old business, senate confirmed Resolution #5403, “Energy Efficiency at CSU.”
The resolution supports reductions in CSU’s greenhouse gas emissions through energy reduction and efficiency efforts. The resolution also supports the development of LEED Gold or higher certified buildings and a new conversion plan, regardless of building funding mechanisms.
The legislation passed with unanimous consent.
Moving into new business, Resolution #5404, “Formal Condemnation of BlackFace on Colorado State University’s Campus,” was proposed. The resolution condemns violent acts of racism on CSU’s campus following the situation regarding CSU’s chapter of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity that took place earlier this semester.
On Sept. 5, the fraternity was accused of displaying a racially insensitive banner that allegedly depicted blackface.
The bill calls on leadership from the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life to take action to reduce all acts of bias and racism on campus. The legislation also calls upon CSU administration to take comprehensive action against incidents of bias on campus, including calling on university President Amy Parsons to create a task force to investigate all fraternities on campus for incidents of prejudice and organize a hotline to gather feedback from students who have experienced bias on campus.
“I feel that these organizations in particular are often kind of given a slap on the wrist and then let go when they do things like this,” said Mitchell Meyers, senator for the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, chair of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Affairs Committee and legislative author.
Senators agreed that the legislation is necessary and the university should take action given the history of similar incidents that have occurred at CSU.
“You know the saying, ‘A few bad apples don’t make the grove bad,’ but it certainly does speak to the state of the tree, which is why I like the presidential task force being an active participant in that,” Senator Giovanni Falbo said. “We need to be proactive about this. This is a good start, but let’s make sure it’s not our only step towards addressing this.”
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While members of the senate agreed with the legislation or the intent behind it, McAllister Johnson, senator for the College of Health and Human Sciences, said she feels there are better ways to go about addressing such incidents concerning Fraternity and Sorority Life.
“I love the intention behind this bill, and I would love to communicate with you more about where I can see this going, but I don’t know that this attack is exactly what we want to do,” Johnson said.
The legislation will be sent to internal affairs, university affairs and DEI committees for further review.
ASCSU Senate will resume Oct. 23.
Reach Laila Shekarchian at news@collegian.com or on Instagram @CSUCollegian.
