The Undergraduate Student Government General Assembly passed four resolutions Wednesday, ranging from acknowledging AAPI hate to advocating for a shorter university carbon-neutral timeline. Credit: Casey Cascaldo | Lantern file photo
Ohio State’s Undergraduate Student Government sought to make several changes at the last meeting of the 53rd General Assembly meeting Wednesday, passing four resolutions.
USG passed resolutions to stand in solidarity with the Asian American and Pacific Islander community, advocate for updated university sustainability goals, rename the Diversity and Inclusion Committee the Justice and Equity Committee and recognize March as Women’s History Month.
Asian American and Pacific Islander solidarity
The resolution to stand in solidarity with the Asian American and Pacific Islander community states there has been xenophobia, hate and racism against this group for centuries across the nation, citing incidents such as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, riots where several Chinatowns were burned down and the exile of people in the 1870s and 1880s.
Gabe Myers, the former on-campus living area senator and sponsor of the resolution, said the COVID-19 pandemic increased the amount of anti-Asian sentiments. He said the resolution supports the on-campus rally against anti-Asian violence that occurred April 1 in front of Thompson Library.
“The AAPI community needs support and increased resources more than ever,” Myers, a second-year in neuroscience, said.
The resolution supports the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives in May 2020, that would require a designated person in the Department of Justice to expedite the review of COVID-19-related hate crimes. It also endorses creation of the Asian American and Pacific Islander Affairs Commission and the Office of Asian American and Pacific Islander Affairs in the Ohio legislature to create a space for Asian American and Pacific Islander Ohioans to advocate for themselves, according to the resolution.
Lauren Sutherland, the USG legislative coordinator for the Governmental Affairs Committee and John Glenn College of Public Affairs senator, said the resolution urges everyone, including public officials and the Ohio State community, to be conscious of how their language and actions affect the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.
“While this federal advocacy will not solve the problem or undo the systemic issues in this scenario, it will be a start towards addressing the rampant hate crimes that are going on at this time,” Sutherland, a second-year in public management, leadership and policy, said.
Renaming the Diversity and Inclusion Committee
The resolution to formally rename the Diversity and Inclusion Committee to Justice and Equity states the original name did not reflect the mission, work and values of the committee: to “support and empower underrepresented and minoritized students by promoting justice, equity, diversity and inclusion through brave and safe spaces for students to express their growth and advancement of their social identities as well as voice disparities they face at The Ohio State University.”
Renaming it to Justice and Equity means the committee seeks to do more than increase the number of minority students — which the resolution states “diversity and inclusion” implies. The committee aims to focus more on dismantling harmful practices and policies for minority students and employees and a greater commitment to social justice, according to the resolution. Also, the resolution states diversity and inclusion are used as buzzwords with no intent of making impactful change.
Kelsey Lowman, the legislative coordinator for the Justice and Equity Committee and sponsor for the resolution, said the renaming is not only to more accurately reflect what the committee does, but to uplift its work that she said has been overlooked.
“This resolution is not just for us or future Justice and Equity people, but it is also for the past Justice and Equity members who were not celebrated,” Lowman, a third-year in public management, leadership and policy and political science, said.
Advocating for updated sustainability goals
Kira Jones, the USG legislative coordinator for the Sustainability Committee and the food, agriculture and environmental sciences senator, said the university’s current sustainability timeline of carbon neutral by 2050 is not fast enough to lead the nation in President Joe Biden’s goal of reaching carbon neutrality by that time.
Instead, Jones said the university should try to reach a goal of being carbon neutral by 2035.
Alex Poling, deputy director of USG’s Sustainability Committee, said he has spoken with University President Kristina M. Johnson, who believes the university can reach a goal of carbon neutrality by 2035.
“As an influential university, this is to a certain extent a bare minimum, and we need to be setting a standard for other universities,” Poling, a second-year in environmental science, said.
In a Nov. 5, 2020, Faculty Council meeting to discuss the construction of the combined heat and power plant on campus, Johnson said it is important to her the university works toward achieving carbon neutrality as quickly as possible.
“We are in a race to decarbonize as fast as we can,” Johnson said. “People talk about 2050? That is so 10 years ago when I was Under Secretary of Energy. My view is we’ve got to pull that back. We’ve got to decarbonize by 2040.”
According to the resolution, plans to improve sustainable practices on campus include increasing composting initiatives so the university doesn’t rely on less environmentally-friendly waste diversion methods such as recycling.
Recognizing Women’s History Month
The resolution recognizing March as Women’s History Month also calls for the university to support the passage of the Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair Acts at the state and federal levels. Passed unanimously, the resolution will advocate for the pursuit of gender justice and for Black women who face disproportionate financial and social impacts because of natural hairstyles.
The CROWN Act was created in 2019 by the CROWN coalition, including Dove and the National Urban League, to ensure protection against discrimination on race-based hairstyles by protecting hair texture and promoting the acceptance of protective styles, such as braids and twists, in the workplace and public schools, according to the resolution.
According to a study published in August 2020 in the research journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, Black women with natural hairstyles are more likely to be perceived as unprofessional or incompetent than Black women with straightened hair and white women with all hairstyles.
Lowman said this resolution supports the passage of the CROWN Act nationally to break down the barriers, such as accessing employment, that Black women in America face because of their hair.
“We’re hoping that this resolution is further actionable in mobilizing the coalitions that we are working to amplify, the advocacy they are already doing and to mobilize our resources as Undergraduate Student Government, as community organizations, as students, as people to pass the CROWN Act,” Lowman said.
