On Tuesday, Student Senate voted to pass a bill that requires SMU to provide a mandatory program on diversity training for incoming freshmen.

The bill, authored by the members of the Senate Diversity Committee, notes that currently there is no such isolated program designed to educate incoming students on diversity issues. Sen. Jared McCluskey raised concerns over how such a program would affect an overloaded freshman’s first week of college.

In retort, Diversity Committee Chair Kim Elmazi asked the chamber to recall the senate meeting on Sept. 18 when, in reaction to the then-recent vandalism of the Multicultural Student Affairs’ boulevard sign, the forum was full beyond capacity. Attendants that afternoon were comprised heavily of concerned students representing SMU’s many minority organizations.

Elmazi said, “Remember Sept. 18 when everyone packed this room, pleading for their Senate to do something, when all the club presidents stood [at the podium] quoting Martin Luther King, Jr.”

“Your job as senators is to be a voice for your constituents. If you ignore this bill, you’re ignoring 25 percent of the SMU student population, after we’ve spent so long building bridges.”
The vote was taken via roll call, and passed with only four Senators – Devin Kerns, Jared McCluskey, Emily McIntosh, and Caleb Pool – voting against the diversity initiative.