Following the conflicts at the University of Missouri, the Student Government Association and the Black Student Union made an effort to join forces by attended each other’s meetings this week.
Shannon Arthur, secretary for the College of Democrats, spoke about BSU and other organizations attending SGAs senate.
“It is not one organization that is going to this,” Arthur said. “It’s really us trying to show SGA and all the other organizations that we care about the campus issues that you all are lobbying for.”
India Napier, BSU member, said she was excited to be attending senate after some SGA members attended their BSU meeting earlier.
“We’re really excited to see SGA joining with BSU and trying to address some of the issues we have here going on at campus as far as diversity goes,” Napier said. “We’re hoping that SGA continues to stand with us in trying to make this campus better for everyone.”
During executive announcements Walker Byrd, SGA president, spoke about issues at the University of Missouri and their relevance at Auburn.
“I just want to thank BSU for being here tonight in light of everything that’s happened at Missouri,” Byrd said. “I think it’s important that we do stand with our friends at Missouri and our friends here at Auburn, knowing that the problems are not unique to Missouri and they happen here as well.”
Byrd asked senate members and other people in attendance to keep in mind similar issues on campus.
“So, just be aware of that and don’t let it sit lightly on you that these problems are with us too,” Byrd said.
“It’s all about being informed. It’s not a protest. This is us simply sitting there quietly and learning the issues and learning and watching how the process works,” Arthur said. “It is simply a meeting of the minds.”
With an effort from all students, Napier hopes to raise awareness on diversity and help everyone feel welcome at Auburn.
“It’s very clear that we really do need services and resources being put towards making sure that everyone from a diverse background is welcomed and that they feel safe here and they’re treated equally,” Napier said. “We think that we can really do something great for Auburn and make everyone feel like the Auburn family that we promote.”
After attending BSUs meeting, Trey Fields, student affairs committee chair, said he hopes Auburn students can put race, gender and sexual orientation aside to help build community at Auburn.
“We watched some videos of Missouri. Those can be hard to watch sometimes and there’s a lot of emotions,” Fields said. “Just love your fellow man, your fellow friend…we’re all Auburn students and that’s the one thing we have in common.”
Daniel Hess, senator at-large, also spoke about issues in today’s news while speaking about the terror attacks in Paris.
“We live in a world that tries to say there is no right or wrong and that morality is all subjective and, folks, I don’t mean this to be harsh, but that just doesn’t sound like reality,” Hess said. “Paris on Friday was absolutely awful and disgusting. What do we say to that? Why do these things exist? Why? Why?”
Hess said that although he is saddened by these events, we must acknowledge them.
“I express that with my deepest possible sorrow,” Hess said. “It breaks my heart, but we don’t need to run away from these issues just because they’re hard to deal with.”
Hess then said he is hopeful for the good remaining in the world.
“There’s some intrinsic worth that we all have and with that we know that good exists…evil can’t exist without good,” Hess said. “We have an existential longing to be better and with that I say there is hope.”
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