On Wednesday, Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) unanimously voted to pass a resolution in support of creating the position of Multicultural Representative, an addition to the BSG assembly that would serve as a liaison between the Multicultural Coalition and the BSG.
For the position to officially be created, the BSG constitution must be amended. To do this, a third of the student body now has to vote—and within that group, two-thirds have to vote in favor of the amendment. Students will be able to vote from December 9 to 12 on the constitutional amendment creating the position online.
If the amendment creating the position passes, each group of the Multicultural Coalition, which consists of 17 campus groups, will have one vote for the representative in early February, choosing from within the membership of any of the multicultural clubs.
“The Multicultural Coalition, and the student groups within, along with the Student Center for Multicultural Life do a lot of programming around race and culture,” said Evelyn Sanchez ’17. “We feel a lot of these events are attended by the same people who happen to be students of color. We feel that a lot of other students could greatly benefit from the events and would like to if only greater organizations such as BSG advertised them.”
Sanchez, who organized campaigning around the Multicultural representative, referenced the success of the events of No Hate November.
“We also think that having the Multicultural rep be there will allow for these issues to be addressed proactively, rather than reactively,” Sanchez said. “[Programming] can be throughout the year and not just allotted to a month or week, not just allotted to No Hate November.”
The proposal for the position was originally introduced to the BSG last year by Kiki Nakamura-Koyama ’17 and Charlotte McLaughry ’15. However, it was not voted on at the time due to logistical issues.
“We got the proposal from last year, looked it over, reworked it, edited it to make it more relevant to what’s happening now,” said Michelle Kruk ’16, BSG’s vice president for student government affairs.
“Historically, the BSG has not been as diverse and has not been as active in these issues, but we do think by having a rep, we can guarantee that institutional, systemic response to these issues because we can hold someone accountable to that,” Sanchez said.
Kruk agreed, emphasizing the permanence that the position gives to multicultural voices in BSG.
“I don’t think that the programming we do around multicultural life is enough, nor is it sustainable. It changes depending on who is doing the programs or who’s on campus that year,” she said. “I want some permanent legacy here, to be able to say that regardless of whether or not we have a diverse body within the student assembly… there will be someone on the assembly whose job it is to bring these things up.”