4-15 Goodman

On April 2, 2014 I attended the undergraduate student senate meeting. In all the years that I spent on university campuses, I never attended a student government meeting. This UNM student senate meeting had before it a resolution from the Students for Justice in Palestine to isolate the State of Israel from all other nations and to singularly divest from corporations located in Israel was my first experience watching student government at work. The room was packed. Groups supporting the resolution and opposing it were both well represented. Many of the people attending the meeting were as old as the senators’ parents and grandparents. The tone for the hearing of the resolution was set by the Dean of Students Tomas A. Aguirre. He reminded everyone that a university is a place where all students come to learn and grow and this involves dialogue and discussion and engagement in a civil manner. He admonished all present to consider the intent and impact of any resolution presented and reminded everyone that love is universal and inclusion is strength. Aguirre’s words and presence throughout the lengthy hearing of speakers for and against the resolution, and during the lengthy discussion among the senators, certainly supported the totally civil comments and interchanges. Everyone paid careful attention to the senators as they debated the pros and cons of the resolution and how it would impact the student body as a whole. My purpose in writing to the student press is to inform the readers, as someone who is not affiliated with UNM, what a superb job your student senators did in dealing with this internationally divisive type of resolution. I was so impressed by the respect the senators showed for each other, their fellow students and those attending the hearing. Then, there was the clear and sincere concern expressed by so many senators over the impact on the community as a whole of a resolution that singles out one nation and one people for “punishment.” I was honestly encouraged about the future of our country listening to the UNM senators, their willingness to stand and serve their student body in student government, their respect for one another, their compassion for all of those in attendance and their desire for careful deliberation and consensus rather than division within the University community. Thank you UNM undergraduate senators. You did an awesome job dealing with a complex and divisive issue. I was probably most impressed by the assertions of those senators who refused to yield on the concept that sustaining a community requires coming together and requires consensus building to be a healthy body and a healthy institution. Although compromise and dialogue are often totally absent in politics today, you guys were just.....awesome. Gail Goodman, EdD Interested community member