The ASUNM resolution encouraging the UNM community to take Veterans Day off is now a little less “flowery.”
After an ASUNM Senate vote sent the resolution back to committee Sept. 2, the Steering and Rules Committee revised the wording on Wednesday.
“(Last week) everyone said ‘I want to pass this, I want to pass this,’” said Steering and Rules Committee member Chelsea Stallings. “But nobody felt the wording was right. We, as a committee, liked the wording, which is why we passed it in committee, but there were a few who were more persuasive than we were on the Senate floor with the words being dramatic – poetic.”
The two significant changes to the resolution came in a single sentence.
When describing veterans, the committee changed the phrase “our nation’s true heroes,” to “some of our nations true heroes.” They also removed the end of the sentence that said veterans “are owed a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid.”
In discussion, committee chair Alicia Barry argued the end of the sentence is misleading because veterans do get paid.
“We honor them in different institutions,” Barry said. “They are given opportunities in college. They are being paid to go to college. They are getting different scholarships and sponsorships, so they are being paid. I think the wording is a little rough.”
Senator Abdullah Feroze, who seconded a motion to send the resolution back to committee on Sept. 2, said the language wasn’t the only contention he had with the resolution.
“I think a lot of senators didn’t feel comfortable passing a bill that still had loose ends to it,” he said.
Feroze, who didn’t go to the meeting because of a scheduling conflict, took issue with a few statistics that were in the resolution. It mentions that veterans bring in over $6 million in benefits to UNM. Feroze doesn’t contest the numbers, but he said citation is necessary.
The Steering and Rules Committee sent the resolution back to the Senate floor with a 4-1 vote. The only “nay” came from Stallings, who said she supports the bill’s sentiment but doesn’t think the grammar in one paragraph is up to par.
“I know we have some sticklers on the floor, and it needs to read (correctly),” Stallings said.
She said it could easily be fixed with a “friendly amendment” and is sure it will pass next Wednesday when it hits the Senate floor.
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Zach Mutchler, president of Student Veterans of UNM and author of the original resolution, said he approved of the revised document.
“As long as there is a resolution passed by the full Senate that supports UNM to observe Veterans Day then that is all I care about,” Mutchler said. “That is all the veterans care about. We could talk all night about whether this is too flowery.
Senator Laz Cardenas, who introduced the resolution, said he will vote the revised resolution through but that it was fine in its original form.
“The changes on the resolution right now, I think, are watered down,” he said. “There was no language in the (original) resolution that was offensive.”
Cardenas also said the Sept. 2 meeting was the first for a few freshmen senators, and they could have been confused with parliamentary procedure and lingo.
