There are four special interest senators in the SMU Student Senate. These seats are designated for ethnic minorities. They include the African American, Asian American, Hispanic American and International Students seats. These seats are outlined in the Student Body Constitution, Section 3, Article 8.
All of the Senate seats are designed to categorize SMU’s students into groups that will provide representatives who are most capable of catering to their group’s needs.
Simply put, the special interest seats do exactly what their name implies: they represent the important needs of minority groups, because their class senators are not adequately experienced to address those needs. In the same way that a Dedman student has his or her academic interests represented by a fellow Dedman student, minority students need their “special interests” represented by a fellow minority student, because their cultural experiences are different from the majority.
Using a dictionary definition of the word “discrimination,” the existence of special interest senators does contradict Section 4, the nondiscrimination policy, of the Constitution. But, the existence of first-year senators, school senators, graduate school senators and the like discriminates, or categorizes, the student body so that our needs in Senate can be adequately addressed. If senators were not classified, academically or ethnically, Student Senate would be less effective, because the senators would not be tailored to their constituency.
Ed Board feels that the spirit of the nondiscrimination policy and special interest seats is clear and more appropriate in Senate policy issues than a literal reading of the two Constitution articles.
At this point in time, these seats are a necessity to SMU. It would be nice if our student body was more aware and appreciative of diversity on campus, but we are not at that point yet. It should be the ultimate goal of the Department of Multicultural Student Affairs and the special interest senators to improve cultural relations on campus so much that they would no longer be needed on campus. In fact, Section 3, Article 8.a.2 of the Constitution states, “Once an ethnic minority senator seat has been established, it will remain until that senator’s ethnic group makes up at least 15 percent of the total student body for at least two consecutive years. It will then be eliminated at the end of the term.” It is obvious that the creation of these seats is not meant to be permanent, and there are guidelines for when they should be removed, but the time has not come to abolish the special interest seats.
As students in a world whose people are continuously becoming more connected to each other, Ed Board feels that the entire SMU population has a responsibility to promote and celebrate diversity. The four special interest senators should be, and are, at the forefront of this uphill challenge. These senators provide a perspective to the Student Senate that can help make the rest of the Senate more educated about diversity and thus help them make better decisions. With the help and the influence the special interest senators provide, the rest of the senators are better equipped to help promote and celebrate diversity on our campus.
