Despite posting an online poll for students to voice their opinions on the war in Iraq and subsequently formulating a statement on the war, the AUSA Senate decided not to publish that statement at its first meeting of the new term last week.
In response to numerous undergraduate students’ petition for a political statement, the Senate produced a poll that found that 41.5 percent of the 468 student voters oppose the United States going to war under any circumstances, and 34.2 percent of students support going to war only with the expressed permission of the United Nations. Students generally favor a United States policy of peace in compliance with the United Nations.
Although this “Resolution for International Community” recognized the Senate’s accountability for the “wants and needs for its members,” senators have denied any suggestion that further action should be taken in response to the opinion of one fourth of the student population.
“The Senate should not be wasting their time on these type of issues. We are not a debating society nor are we officials that should have a say in the arena of international politics,” Daniels College of Business Senator Andrew Petraitis said. “We were not elected to debate politics, but rather to make changes at the school. The debates these past weeks have hurt the students since we have not been able to focus on their concerns and problems. I feel it was a waste of the student’s time and hurt the credibility of Senate.”
President Jake Bakker said, “It wasn’t intended to say, “This is how DU thinks.” The purpose of the statement was basically just to get students to think about [the war]. There were many student concerns.”
“I’m trying to steer the Senate away from the resolution [on war],” he said. “I’m trying to stick to the goals we set at the beginning of the year. More than ever, it’s important for students to come together as a school and celebrate diversity.”
Bakker said that this cannot include war. However, he said, “We’re still probably going to send the results to elected officials to show DU’s stance on the issue.”
On Campus Senator Josh Johnson said,
“This resolution is no different than any other resolution. We just passed it. If a Senate member wanted to send it somewhere, they could,” Johnson said.
“It is not our responsibility to do anything with it unless the Senate or the student body feels that we should,” Johnson said.
After several rewrites and votes, the 13-2-2 vote produced a Senate written statement, which included the polled results as a footnote.
The statement was planned, according to the Senate Advisor Carl Johnson, to be sent to Colorado Governor Bill Owens.
However, by the end of the quarter, the results had not been sent.
“The war statement is over with and nothing is being done with it.
“I feel it was a waste of the student’s time and hurt the credibility of Senate,” Senator Petraitis said.
Bakker explained, “There was so much controversy surrounding [the statement]. I don’t know what we’re going to do with it.”
