Last year Saint Louis University’s campus observed events that included students being threatened, crosses that represented the LGBT community stolen and other bias incidents that detrimentally affected students.
This year, Student Government Association is taking proactive measures in order to aid in the fight to eliminate such incidents from campus.
“We as the students of Saint Louis University should be open to growth in seeking to develop an inclusive atmosphere,” reads a whereas-statement in the most recent SGA proposal that has, after its passage, formed a coalition to handle the task of fully developing and distributing a student creed.
“This is not necessarily a holistic creed in the sense of how students should be acting physically, mentally, socially or spiritually but more of a creed of what it means to be a member of this community and how to help foster a community of inclusion,” SGA President Courtney Anvender said.
This creed began its formulation over the summer months, and has since been a collaborative project between SGA and many of the multicultural organizations on campus.
In terms of the most current draft of the creed, Vice President of Diversity and Social Justice Oscar Vasquez stated that for the most part, “[The organization’s] opinion was that it looked really good.”
One such multicultural group that was considered was Rainbow Alliance.
Thomas Bloom is the president of the organization and was a co-sponsor of the resolution.
“As students and as members of the SLU community, we all hold some responsibility when our fellow students are victimized and oppressed,” Bloom said. “The newly formed creed coalition is about taking accountability for our shortcomings and building a strong community.”
Some senators expressed concern with the fact that the creation of the creed was not shared with the wider SLU constituency. Therefore, they felt that it might not fully embody the values of the campus in its entirety.
“This creed was sent out to all of [Senate] so there’s 13,000 students represented right there. Hopefully everyone did their job and read the creed,” Anvender said, responding to the inquiry referring to the fact that the senators represent the larger SLU community.
Another senator asked about how this creed differs from the “We Are All Billikens” campaign that was sponsored by the Great Issues Committee last year.
“I feel that ‘We Are All Billikens’ was a temporary thing,” Vasquez said. “The intent of the coalition is to carry this [creed] for years and years to come. The continuity of the coalition will be significantly longer than the ‘We Are All Billikens’ campaign.”
Vasquez expressed that ideally there will be a “Creed Week” after students come back from winter break.
It will be during that week that the creed will be released and distributed.
Participation in the coalition is open to any interested student, regardless of membership in SGA.
Another resolution and bill were also passed in Senate.
