Undergraduate Student Government Senate Passes Diversity Resolution
Near-unanimous vote comes after two-week postponement, heated debate
Applause filled the packed room at Ronald Tutor Campus Center where the Undergraduate Student Government Senate passed the revised Campus Climate Resolution on Tuesday night. After senate members voted to postpone voting two weeks ago, tonight’s passage came after the chamber debated heatedly over a series of amendments to the document.
The “diversity resolution,” as it is commonly referred to by the student body was authored by USG President Rini Sampath, USG Director of Diversity Affairs Moira Turner, leaders of Graduate Student Government and of many cultural and minority-interst organizations. Its aim is to increase tolerance and diversity on USC’s campus, partially in response to a national conversation about the status of minority inclusion on campuses across America.
Discussion of amendments went back and forth, lasting nearly two and a half hours (one and a half hours more than the Senate’s usual meeting duration).
Students filled every seat and all available space on the stairs and floor, while some leaned against a wall peppered with colorful signs with slogans such as “I Fight On for Change.” One bespectacled student held a gold poster board emblazoned with “This is My #FightOn Story.”
The resolution calls for several actions from the University’s administration, including: hiring a Vice President for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, additional funding and resources for campus cultural centers, the establishment of a $100 million endowment fund to support underrepresented students and tenured faculty positions for underrepresented minorities and the implementation of mandatory diversity training for faculty.
Preceding the final vote was a heated debate that focused on specific portions of the resolution, some of which were major points of contention. Discussion of the specific wording of several amendments took place at the beginning of the session, before the discussion broadened.
One such contentious moment focused on the proposed $100 million reserved for scholarships and tenured faculty positions for underrepresented groups. A proposed amendment by Sen. Giuseppe Robalino that did not pass suggested removing this specific number from the resolution. Those who supported the existing wording argued that this high sum would encourage administrators to take the demands of the resolution more seriously.
Discussion of creating a position for a Vice Dean of Diversity for each school or academic division and increasing funding for cultural resource centers raised concerns from audience members and senators about financing. The majority claimed that allowances could be made for these costs given USC’s large endowment and history of successful fundraising.
Toward the end of the meeting, several comments made by one male student regarding the senators’ understanding of funding and endowments and criticizing the wording of the resolution were met with strong response from the audience and Undergraduate Student Government members alike, who felt that his words were highly insensitive to the issue of minority inclusion and personally attacked certain authors of the resolution.
As the volume of the crowd rose, USG Vice President Jordan Fowler called for order before Sampath addressed the room.
“I think that we need to think about the fact that everyone in this room is passionate and that this isn’t a black and white, Greek and non-Greek issue,” Sampath said. “I know some incredible people in that community who stand for students’ rights, but I also know that problems exist in every community.”
Sophomore student Michelle Bollinger believes this resolution is a step in the right direction in creating a more inclusive campus.
“This has been a long time coming with how I’ve experienced being a student on campus. I’ve seen that there’s a huge disparity between the lived experience of being a student here on campus [who] claim[s] several marginalized identities and what it says in the brochures,” Bollinger said. “It’s really teaching about what I want in an experience here and it’s really opening my eyes to the possibilities that we have as students when we stand together and that we won’t put up with this type of oppression from an institution that told us we were part of its family.”
The resolution will likely be presented during a scheduled meeting with Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Michael Quick on November 23.
Reach Staff Reporter Helen Carefoot here, or follow her on Twitter.
