 "Photo: Toan Trinh/Collegian")
The Student Government Association's meeting yesterday marked its 1519th regular meeting. With just 19 Senators present, the SGA engaged in a series of discussions, ranging from divesting in Darfur to the recent hate incident on campus.
Student Trustee Mishy Leiblum informed the SGA about an upcoming meeting of the Trustees where they will discuss "increasing fees by 3.5%, in addition, raising housing fees by significantly more than that." Leiblum also reminded the Senators that the nomination period for positions including Area Government standing, Student Trustee, or SGA President will be going on until next Thursday at noon.
SGA President Elvis Mendez notified the Senate about the possibility of a week-long event, presented by both the Muslim Student Association and the SGA "dealing with Islamaphobia, dealing with different issues about it with the Muslim community on campus." The event would take place near the end of April or the beginning of May.
Secretary of the Registry Jamie Corliss brought attention to the issues surrounding the recent hate incident involving UMass students on campus, and the forum that discussed it on Tuesday evening.
"During that forum, a lot of really positive dialogue and discussion came up. I want to extend a thank you to everyone who went and I also want to encourage everyone to continue this discussion and dialogue, talk about and realize what the assault means for our community. When I say our community, I do not mean just the queer community, I mean our campus and the atmosphere we have here," said Corliss.
"It's a shame that the rest of the administration, that claims to put students first, was not there. As students, we have an immense power at this university. It is once again time for us to utilize this power. Enacting sustainable changes in this atmosphere is our responsibility," Corliss added.
MassPIRG also made an appearance at last night's meeting, when its "Save Darfur" campaign coordinator Stephanie Aines presented motion 2007-S19, "A Motion to Support the University of Massachusetts Divestment from Sudan."
"We're hoping to get UMass to divest. You can be the first SGA if you end up voting tonight in support of divestment. There are other campaigns working on divestment at the other UMass campuses. So hopefully, all five will vote to support the motion. Then it does go to a decision by the board of trustees, when they go to pass divestment, it gets signed by President Wilson, and then the accountants take the money out of the accounts on the list here," Aines explained.
Aines believes that millions of dollars are being invested in these companies, but it was impossible to track the exact amount invested in each company through UMass' accountants in Shrewsbury because the stock market is constantly fluctuating.
"The roles of the companies are different," Aines said. "These companies give money to the Sudanese government, and to the Chinese government, Chinese companies directly, and other companies. So the Sweden company (Lundin Petroleum), for example, they might be invested in Chinese companies and Sudanese companies. The Chinese companies give money to the government of Sudan, both money and weapons to fund the genocide."
The genocide in Darfur has displaced more than two million people, and the death toll is currently upwards of 400,000 people.
The motion, which was passed unanimously, states "BE IT RESOLVED, that the Student Government Association of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, fully support a vote by the Board of Trustees to divest our funds from the following, but not limited to companies…" One of the companies included was the well known carmaker, Rolls Royce, based in the United Kingdom.
Aines reminded the SGA that the UMass community divested from South Africa during Apartheid in the 1970s and 1980s. Aines also stated that the UMass community voted in 1986 to divest funds from countries with similar racist and violent policies leading to crimes against humanity. Aines added that the town of Amherst, along with Amherst and Smith Colleges, have already divested from Sudan.
Harriet Chandler, a Senator from Worcester, sponsored a bill calling for a statewide divestment from Sudan, which will be brought up in the State House on March 15.
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