Last week, First Year Councilor Robert Pendley proposed a bill to the University of Alabama’s student senate that would change their enumerated titles from “councilor” to “councilman” or “councilwoman.”
Councilor Pendley cited that this bill was meant to replicate the standard the United States Congress uses, and went on to suggest that the SGA should focus on imitating higher forms of U.S. government.
The proposed bill does a fantastic job of meeting this U.S. standard of legislation. It almost precisely emulates the absolutely useless bills that have been flowing from the bowels of Representative Boehner’s Congress this past year.
We saw a Republican Party that promised job creation manage to capture the House of Representatives, and then watched those same representatives propose no legitimate job legislation. Instead, we witnessed social reform legislation that ranged anywhere from draconian to arbitrary.
I am not sure anyone should hope our student government ever becomes that useless and that out of touch with their constituents’ needs and desires.
Gender-specific labeling is not something the student body at the University of Alabama needs or wants. Students at the Capstone already bear a burden of almost Atlas-like proportions as a racially divisive greek system sits on our shoulders. We do not welcome any more division.
In a legislative body each representative should maintain an equal amount of power and opportunity for representation, and their nomenclature should reflect that.
These gendered titles only serve to create an atmosphere where women and men are separated, which is never something that a place of higher learning should strive for. A person’s gender should have no bearing on their position as councilor, and therefore has no place in the chambers of the legislative bodies at the University of Alabama.
The Student Government Association should actively seek ways to create more inclusivity for all students; that includes men, women and those who associate with neither gender. If passed, this legislation would have established an atmosphere where students who associate with different gender identities would be excluded and uncomfortable if they chose to participate.
I applaud the efforts of the SGA student senators who voted against this divisive bill, proving that they understand how this bill would work to actively exclude individuals from the legislative process. The University should always hope to establish a safe and inclusive atmosphere for all students regardless of how they identify themselves.
The Student Government Association at the University of Alabama should always consider principles and pragmatism when legislation is presented; of which this bill has neither.
We should hope that our SGA should not strive to be like higher forms of the U.S. government, but rather that higher forms of the U.S. government would strive to be more like our SGA.
UA Housing and Residential Communities could also take a lesson or two from our student senators and work toward creating a more inclusive atmosphere for all students in housing communities.
This is important, because words are important. Just as language can be empowering, it can be equally debilitating. Let us only choose titles for our representatives that have the potential for empowerment and not debilitation.
Michael Patrick is a senior majoring in political science. His column runs on Tuesday.
