A new Student Government Association resolution will create a student position for promoting diversity and inclusivity on campus.
After President Martha Burger’s listening session on diversity and inclusivity Feb. 6, Student Senate passed a resolution Feb. 26 calling upon Burger to establish a chief diversity and inclusion officer position within the president’s cabinet. The resolution also establishes a secretary of diversity and inclusion position within the SGA president’s cabinet. The resolution passed unanimously through Student Senate.
President Burger was unavailable for comment about the position within the president’s cabinet.
Sen. Trae Trousdale (Greek) proposed the resolution and said it was inspired by concerns brought up during Burger’s session.
“The resolution is acknowledging that there is a problem that was brought up on our campus, specifically with diverse populations,” Trousdale said. “I thought it would be a great idea for SGA to get ahead of that instead of acting reactively later on.”
Trousdale said the new position will give minorities and underrepresented groups the means to interact with SGA.
“Throughout this whole year, one of my biggest problems with SGA has been that disconnect between the student body and those that are representing the student body,” he said. “This will really work to include those groups at the executive level, and they’ll have a direct line of communication between SGA, the office of diversity and inclusion, the SGA president, and their organization.”
Trousdale said he hopes to make multicultural organizations feel connected and represented.
Sen. Caleb Evans (athletics) said there were concerns about whether the new position would interfere with the duties of existing positions.
“There were some talks about whether that would step on the toes of the policies and initiatives commission, but we decided that those two jobs can work hand in hand and it wouldn’t be a problem,” Evans said.
Evans said SGA members have had issues communicating with multicultural organizations in the past.
“We worked on funding requests for the Black Students Association and the Native American Students Association, and in both of those cases communication with those organization probably could’ve been expressed better,” Evans said. “I think the resolution is great. Everybody’s voice on this campus should be heard, and for this new position to be able to do that is great.”
Sen. Cate Kurtz (junior at-large) said the new position will put diversity at the forefront of SGA.
“In general in Senate, we promote inclusivity and diversity, but now with this seat we are able to put it on exec so it’s really at the forefront of SGA,” Kurtz said. “Now it’s more of an initiative instead of just assumed.”
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