Anti-Discrimination Debated in Texas A&M Student Senate

Sphere: Related Content The Texas A&M Student Senate may resume debate tonight on SB 09(F) 14, Texas A&M University Anti-Discrimination Policy Bill, which would recommend adding the terms “race, ethnicity, creed, color, citizenship, national or ethnic origin, pregnancy, religion or lack thereof, sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, disability, parental status, marital status, military or veteran status” to the anti-discrimination policy. The opponents of the bill claimed that it was simply politics, and that this type of “policy making” should be left to legislature in Austin. During the debate Senator Steve Bolner refuted the idea that the bill was a political statement and said that “this is about representing every student at this university, something that we have all taken an oath to do.”

However, politics in the Texas A&M Student Senate is not unusual. Last year SB 09(S) 36, Concealed Carry Referendum, was passed by the Student Senate which called for “a referendum of the student body of Texas A&M concerning pending legislation concerning concealed carry in the Texas State Legislature.” Also, SB 09(S) 26, The College Station Smoking Ban Referendum Support Bill, was introduced into the Student Senate which called “for a referendum from the City of College Station on the smoking ban.” The Student Senate has been a place of political debate in the past, and the very nature of a student senate lends itself to political debate.

During the debate February 10th Student Senate meeting, the bill was debated and Speaker Pro Tempore Kyle Womack made strong arguments for the legislation and address the concerns of those who questioned whether or not there was discrimination experienced on campus by saying that “it’s not really that big of a surprise to me that a white, Christian, male at Texas A&M has not experienced discrimination.” Womack made the case for the bill by noting that non-discrimination policies help protect the university from litigation brought by parties that may experience the discrimination. Also, he expressed the view that people should be protected from discrimination simply because it is the right thing to do to protect people who “seek to be a part of the Aggie family.” Finally he noted that although Texas A&M is known as a conservative university that does not mean that they should “overlook the plight of other people.”

Senator Justin Pulliam, who is also Chairman of the Texas A&M Chapter of the Young Conservatives of Texas, continued to assert that the bill was political in nature, and then yielded the remainder of his time to fellow conservative Steven Crumpley who made the argument that the definitions are too broad. Opponents of the legislation often brought up that there are no protections under Texas law for the specified groups. According to the Human Rights Campaign, “Texas' non-discrimination law does not explicitly address gender identity discrimination. Sex and disability discrimination are addressed by Texas law, but it is unclear whether these provisions could provide a cause of action for gender identity discrimination”

What those who spoke out against the legislation continued to repeat was the idea that somehow anyone could be considered a protected class and that everyone is open to discrimination. One speaker even made the hyperbolic assertion that he could be discriminated against because he liked Sponge Bob. However, the truth is that there is not a long history of discrimination against people who like Sponge Bob, but there is a long history against people because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. In fact, there is a history of that type of discrimination at Texas A&M. Only after being taken all the way to the United States Supreme Court (Gay Student Services v. Texas A&M Unversity) where gay student groups allowed on campus.

Colleges and universities from Duke to Berkeley, from Penn State to Boise State, and even that other college down the road all embrace non-discrimination policies that include all of these protected classes. Senator Daniel W. Dick, External Affairs Chair, said, "I think it is absolutely necessary for those governing to voice their support of equal rights for ALL Aggies and to make sure we stand by our Spirit. We are the Aggies the Aggies are we true to each other as Aggies can be.”

Watch the Texas A&M Student Senate meetings on uStream.tv tonight beginning at 7:00pm.