This is in response to the editorial entitled “GSB Drops the Ball.” I would like to start by saying that it is better to educate yourself before forming a valid opinion.

When it was stated that the senators voted the way their constituents wanted them to on the diversity resolution, it was a fairly accurate statement, unlike what the editors of this paper would want you to believe.

The unfortunate fact is that the vote reflected the way their constituents advised them to vote. The students might not have a lot of faith in GSB, but the majority of them voted the way their constituents wanted them to.

Also, if the editors had been paying attention to what actually happened in GSB, they could have constructed better opinions on this issue.

I have been to almost all the GSB meetings this year, and if I remember correctly, the week before this bill was voted on, they spent a good 45 minutes to an hour debating this bill. So when it was said that they only spent 10 minutes talking about the resolution before they voted on it, it was more like an hour and ten minutes.

If I remember correctly, they talked about this resolution until they were blue in the face the previous week.

If people are not satisfied by that statement, there is another reason for the lack of discussion over this resolution. There were many students sitting on all sides of me who had attended the meeting to support the resolution.

They knew they had a voice at the meeting because they took an active role in discussing bills brought up previously in the meeting.

Then, I thought it was peculiar when the resolution they had come to support came up for discussion, the audience fell silent.

This included Mr. Nosworthy himself, whose only comments were a clarification on the wording of the bill.

Mr. Nosworthy had virtually nothing to say during debate over the bill, but he was full of comments to the Daily after the resolution failed.

On another note, I honestly feel that most of the senators put their personal feelings aside and voted the way their constituents had instructed them to.

It was not a vote against diversity. GSB is not full of racists. The senators looked deep enough into the bill to make an accurate judgement on the intent of the bill itself.

If it was a resolution to recognize diversity and work toward it, then it would have passed overwhelmingly.

The unfortunate fact is that people saw the bill for what it was probably intended to be.

It would take way too much money for the university to meet all of these requests. And the senators, along with their constituents, saw that.

The fact of the matter is that most students saw this bill as a way of condoning and justifying the actions of Allan Nosworthy and the September 29th Movement.

And that is exactly the thing that the majority of GSB did not want to do.

At this point, I just want to say that I myself am not opposed to the fact that diversity is an issue on this campus.

No matter on what level or how many people believe it and take it seriously, it is still an issue that may need to be dealt with on this campus. However, this was not the way to go about starting a discussion.

Also, there were a number of senators who were truly disappointed in the failure of this resolution. Some were looking to the senators that voted against this bill to figure out why they voted the way they did.

It seems that a good deal of those in support of this bill were truly angry, and they let their frustration show during the close of the meeting.

Some talked of respect between senators. Yes, there is a definite lack of respect shown from some members of GSB. The ironic thing was that the same ones wanting people to show respect, were the ones making harsh accusations and incorrect assumptions about their fellow senators.

I just want to close by saying that I am truly disappointed by the author(s) of the column on Friday. It is hard to say whether or not they were at the meeting last Wednesday, but they talk like they were told by someone who was there instead of going themselves.

So, I would like to encourage the editors of this paper, as well as other concerned members of the student body to attend GSB meetings before making assumptions about what goes on there.

It is vital that people listen to the facts and to take an unbiased look at them before forming an opinion. In other words, think before you speak.

---

Patrick Barry

Senior

Liberal studies