The resolution passed by Undergraduate Student Government which recognizes Indigenous People’s Day on the same day as Columbus Day lacks all common sense. I am very curious as to why USG, out of all the positive changes it could be working towards on campus, has decided instead to spend its time on an issue that will only continue to divide this campus. Furthermore, reading the comments from last week’s Clarion article, it is clear that the alumni continue to feel hurt and disappointed by the actions of our current government. Not only should USG be fully ashamed of that, but we should start working now to include our alumni in our discussions.
The trend in USG has been to strive for unity among the students of this campus. This was the rationale behind getting rid of the popular Boone as our mascot, as some students were offended by him. And since we know how well getting rid of Boone has worked to create more unity, it should come as no surprise that this resolution will only further divide us.
I am 100 percent in favor of celebrating Indigenous People’s Day. I think it is valuable to celebrate the Native American culture on this campus as we celebrate other cultures. What I don’t think we should do is celebrate it on the same day as Columbus Day, which will only create conflict. You cannot truly celebrate two holidays that by definition are opposing in what they are celebrating. Columbus was a ruthless explorer who subjugated native peoples.
To celebrate that on the same day as Indigenous People’s Day is only asking for trouble. By the way, just because Columbus was a ruthless person, does not diminish his historical significance nor his importance to some groups, which is why we should still celebrate Columbus Day.
To put it another way, would we celebrate Veterans’ Day and Pacifism Day on the same day? No, because the two are distinctly at odds with one another and will make it hard to truly celebrate either on that day.
The failure of USG is that instead of finding a solution that will actually benefit the campus, it passes measures that don’t make common sense. November is Native American Heritage Month. Why not celebrate Indigenous People’s Day sometime in early November? To me, that seems like a logical solution in which we can adequately celebrate both Columbus and Indigenous People’s Day.
And all this time, on a decision that affects the entire university, no alumni have had a say. This is very reminiscent of the Boone ordeal. The alumni of this school are the reason and the history behind this successful university and have made it what it is today.
They deserve a voice on this campus, but they are largely ignored by the current students when it comes to the big issues like the mascot. We have to remember that a large part of the funding for DU comes from the alumni, so it would be in our best interest to keep them in mind.
I would suggest that we create an Alumni Advisory Board which collaborates with USG. This board would work hand-in-hand with USG to ensure that the opinions of our alumni are respected and heard.
Furthermore, I envision this board having some real power where it could veto resolutions passed by USG by a supermajority vote on issues that pertained to the larger university. This would exclude, however, student organizations and funding for these organizations since this should remain under the complete control of USG.
By having this advisory board, USG runs largely as the same, except on matters that affect the larger university or its image in which case the alumni board would get a say.
Since this resolution recognized Indigenous People’s Day as only a change to USG, this said board would not have had veto power over it; nonetheless, this issue has further brought to light how distant many of the alumni feel from this school and that is a shame.
While I cannot say definitively that there would be alumni willing to sit on this board, I have a hunch that there would be enough people willing to join so that a wide array of backgrounds, graduating classes and ideals would be present and accessible.
I urge our USG to think about the larger picture before it acts and to consider alternatives to the options brought before it. I understand that a resolution that would have eliminated Columbus Day all together was voted down, and I applaud our government for doing so. But the resolution that did pass is not much better.
We, as a university, need to strive to create more unity and spirit on this campus, but our recent actions would prove otherwise. Not least of all, we need to better include the alumni in our discussions because one day very soon, we will be alumni too.
