Senates to consider new seat proposals
The Indigenous Students Association requested that the Senates consider new seats addressing diversity, equity, inclusion and decolonization. The Senates are evaluating the suggestion this year.
Last spring, the Indigenous Student Association proposed that the St. Ben’s and St. John’s Senates consider creating a new position focused on decolonization and reparations work, not just for indigenous communities but for all communities that have been colonized.
A joint committee was created with senators from both campuses and members of ISA in order to begin conversations about whether or not a new position would be added, and, if it was, what the constitutional duties of the new senator would be. This new committee met throughout the summer and continued dialogue about how a new position might be potentially implemented.
According to SBS Academic Affairs Representative Sydney Richter, the majority of this committee concluded that when they came back to campus, they would propose two items to the rest of the Senate for discussion and recommendations.
They planned to recommend replacing the current Cultural Affairs Representative with a new position titled Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Representative and creating a completely new position dubbed the Decolonization, Reparations, and Justice Representative.
“The current bylaws of my position are super outdated, and we thought a complete replacement might be good,” Gunnar Laughlin, SJS Cultural Affairs Representative, said. “We want to expand the new position to do more research and conduct forums with students.”
According to Laughlin, the proposed new Decolonization, Reparations and Justice Representative would “meet with tribal elders to listen to their concerns, especially considering how relevant that is to our campus and keeping the goals in mind of making reparations for past actions to indigenous people in the surrounding area.”
“We all actively pay for and go to an institution that colonized people, stole children from their families, used them for forced labor and killed them. The fact that we haven’t done anything to stop that and create reparations is disgraceful,” Richter said in support of the proposed positions.
These changes are not yet confirmed. According to the CSB Senate meeting minutes from Sept. 8, CSB Senate President Crystal Díaz spoke about creating two Cultural Affairs Representatives and creating a task force focused on diversity, equity, inclusion and justice.
“There are differing opinions across the Senate regarding how to approach this situation best or how to not approach it at all,” Richter said. “People recognize that this is an issue, and they want to do something about it, but the vehicle towards doing something about it is not agreed upon.”
According to Laughlin, SJS hopes to bring their proposal to the joint Senate meeting in October. He hopes St. John’s Senate will have a final decision in time for Constitutional Review in early November. SBS also aims to discuss these proposals by November.