A.S.
Senate postpones genocide resolution
By
Gerry Wachovsky
On-line Forty-Niner
The
controversial resolution to condemn the
Armenian genocide has, once again, proven
to be a difficult subject for the A.S. Senate
to tackle.
Senators
at Wednesday's A.S. Senate meeting discussed,
at length, the issues behind the proposed
resolution brought by an Armenian student,
calling for the panel to denounce the Armenian
genocide of the 20th century. After mass
deliberation, Senators came to the conclusion
that they would postpone ruling on the resolution
and would instead send it back to the Documents
& Bylaws subcommittee to make the resolution
official.
Concern
was voiced by several Senators on the chance
that this resolution could open up a "can
of worms" and whether the A.S. Senate
should even deal with such sensitive cultural
issues. Sen.-at-large Daniel Rukhman said
he felt the Senate denouncing genocide is
of "global concern" and agreed
with the suggestion made to change the wording
of the resolution so it would encompass
every genocide that has taken place in recent
times, not solely the event suffered by
the Armenians. Sen.-at-large for Greek organizations,
Erik Jolliff, noted a similarity between
the A.S. Senate speaking for over 35,000
students and the UN speaking for all of
its constituent countries.
Mike
Hostetler, dean of students, did not take
a stance on the issue, but did point out
a "historical disagreement" between
the Armenians and the Turks, and also said
that other students on campus may feel the
need to address the issue further.
In
other news, Sigma Phi Epsilon, the fraternity
responsible for a controversial flyer distributed
last week, apologized through Sen. Jolliff,
who noted that there would be mandatory
"sensitivity training" for all
the members of the fraternity. Jolliff also
said that while the African Student Union
has a right to draft a resolution denouncing
the fraternity, "It is difficult to
pass something that would potentially censor
a campus group, violating First Amendment
rights." Jolliff also reminded the
panel that Sigma Phi Epsilon is a "very
diverse fraternity."
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