At the Nov. 2 senate meeting, SGA passed a resolution of peace to stand in unity with every student who has been affected by the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Senator of nursing and health sciences Kadeejah Santiago authored the bill, and she emphasized the resolution is meant to be neutral and advocate for humanity and peace.
“This is not directly addressing the conflict and necessarily taking sides of a party. This is simply for the well-being of the students,” Santiago said. “This resolution just goes over standing with humanity.”
Santiago said the resolution aims to acknowledge the conflict because she believes, as student leaders, SGA should be able to recognize the conflict and advocate for all students who may need help without taking sides.
Part of the resolution includes sending out a campus-wide email on behalf of SGA that will have a list of available on-campus resources for students who may have been affected by the conflict. The list will include available mental health, health, nutrition and well-being services.
“Many students remain silent because of feared potential retaliation, differing opinions or a sense of hopelessness. Consequently, these students and their families may require access to resources offered by UCCS,” Santiago said.
The topic of including different religious clubs or organizations as resources was brought up, but Santiago was hesitant to include them in the list. She liked the inclusivity of it but was worried adding it may cause too much tension.
Senator of Business Amanda Ford, who sponsored the bill, said she wanted to keep religion out of it. “We were kind of intending this to be, like, a humanitarian resolution, not a religious resolution, and I think there’s a very distinct difference between the two,” she said.
Greg Abukar-Duru, Senator of Public Service, voted in favor of the resolution. “We need to connect with the community as much as possible and student’s problems, so I cannot not advocate for it,” he said.
According to Santiago, the email is expected to be sent out within the next two weeks, but this is subject to change if it takes a long time to write and add feedback from other senators.
In other news:
- Ford noted the Colorado state election is on Nov. 7. She said that the District 11 school board election is one of the most important elections in Colorado. Students can go to room 108 in Kettle Creek to vote on campus or drop their ballots off at the ballot drop box located near the southwest entrance to the University Center.
- Haley Crist, senator-at-large, spoke to the senate about possibly turning one of the SGA meetings in December into a volunteer session to help the homeless community. Nothing was finalized.
- There will not be a regular SGA meeting on Nov. 16. It will be replaced by a training session for new senators instead.
Photo from indiatoday.in.