UMich student gov MANDATES attendance at ‘Students of Color’ events

University of Michigan student government mandated earlier in November that its representatives attend events held by “Students of Color” organizations.

UMich’s student government passed Assembly Resolution 8-023, titled “A Resolution to Mandate Representative Attendance at Students of Color (SOC) organization events” with a vote of 25-2 and three abstentions.

Student government representatives will now have to attend one SOC organization event per month of the academic year, beginning in November, citing a “depressed voice for students of color” due to a majority of the student government’s reps being white, as well as the “exclusion, microaggressions, and hate crimes” currently faced by UMich students of color. 

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“This resolution…strives to serve the needs of these minority students,” UMich student Rep. Mario Galindez, who voted in favor of the resolution, told Campus Reform. Galindez accused the student government of “neglect[ing] [SOC] in favor of a rich white majority.”

The mandate “[will] ensure that representatives create and vote for resolutions that will benefit, and not disadvantage their student body,” the proposal declared. “Representatives must understand the cultural and social society if every student, especially SOC.”

 The once per month attendance requirement is less than the originally proposed requirement of six events per semester, Galindez shared with Campus Reform. 

“There was concern that mandatory monthly attendance [...] would constitute too much of a time commitment,” Galindez added. He said that “on campus, racial tensions are often a bit overstated,” but also noted that racial tensions are “always worse for African Americans.”

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The six groups that CSG Representatives are mandated to attend are Black Student Union, La Casa, United Asian American Associations, South Asian Awareness Network, Arab Student Association, and the Native American Student Association, as stated in the resolution.

“It is a bit ridiculous to mandate cultural curiosity,” representative Edwin Mui, one of the three individuals who abstained from voting, told Campus Reform. 

“As U-M students, we should already have a mindset of fostering diversity and inclusion,” Mui continued. “The fact we must pass legislation to force representatives to learn about different cultures is disappointing.”

“Once again, the extreme liberal bias and agenda are exposed through the Central Student Government’s ridiculous resolutions,” UMich’s College Republicans chapter told Campus Reform. “This resolution is a blatant example of the CSG representatives implementing identity politics, while virtue signaling.”

 “The Central Student Government should expand their perception beyond race and into the area of intellectual diversity,” the student group continued. “If the Assembly [continues] with this absurd resolution […] they [should] attend not only meetings of racial minorities […] but intellectual minorities like the College Republicans.”

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 But UMich sophomore Christian Turner held a different view, telling Campus Reform that “it is important for all individuals of the student government to attend SOC events so that the student government […] can represent the needs of all races.”

UMich’s student government consists of a 44-member representative legislative assembly and has an annual budget of approximately $800,000.

Campus Reform reached out to various CSG executive board members and other assembly representatives but received no response in time for publication. 

Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @SergeiKelley