Senate
denounces genocide
By
Gerry Wachovsky
On-line Forty-Niner
Members
of the Armenian Student Association were
victorious in the A.S. Senate yesterday,
after the board voted to approve a resolution
denouncing the Armenian genocide. This issue,
which the Senate had been debating for about
a month, passed by a vote of 14 yeas, 4
nays and 2 abstentions.
Prior
to voting, Senators discussed the issue
one final time, offering their inputs and
thoughts for the board.
Beginning
the debate, Senator Rukhman said that he
had personally spoken to his constituents,
members of the Turkish Student Association,
and they had "no comment" on the
issue. Personally, however, Rukhman supports
social issues and felt that this was an
appropriate topic for the Senate to vote
on.
Senator
Pollock commented that according to the
Senate bylaws, each senator should vote
on issues concerning their constituents,
and because the Armenian Student Association
is a constituent, she found it appropriate
that the Senate vote on this issue. Senator
Bates agreed with Pollock, saying he saw
this as a "human issue."
Senator
Bronson voiced his discomfort with voting
on this issue so soon, saying, "history
was written by historians, not politicians,
and I find it amazing if we could come to
a decision after a month of debate on something
historians could not decide in 80 years."
Senator Okahana was also hesitant to vote,
saying that he needed more time to discuss
the issue with his constituents, while Senator
Smith said that she did not want to "rush
voting on the issue."
During
the discussion, Senator Wheeler spoke of
concern he had over some phrases that were
in the final draft of the resolution, saying
that some information that was labeled as
fact had no "citations or attribution."
Okahana noted that Wheeler is on the Documents
and Bylaws committee, which is the board
responsible for editing documents to be
sent to the Senate. Bronson later said that
the decision to send the resolution to the
Senate without the citations was Senator
Roberts' decision.
Before
the resolution was voted on, Vice President
Guido Piotti instructed the Senate on the
voting procedures and mentioned that the
resolution required 11 yeas to be passed,
and that in this particular situation an
abstaining vote did not help. After the
resolution was passed Smith said, "We
all need to back this as a team," despite
the fact that some senators voted against
it.
Shant
Baboujian, the Armenian student behind the
resolution, thanked the A.S. Senate and
said, "I think this is a big step,
and the next step is education."
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