Student Senate passed the Pronoun Resolution at its General Assembly meeting Monday after two weeks of discussion and multiple semesters of similar conversations.
The Pronoun Resolution encourages the creation of drop-down menus in Webster and Sakai to allows students to choose their own pronouns, including “she/her,” “he/him,” “they/them,” “proper” (meaning the student only wants to be called by their proper name) and “any” (Read “Pronoun Resolution Passes” for more information).
Student Senate initially voted on the Pronoun Resolution at its General Assembly meeting Feb. 20 but decided to vote again at its following meeting Feb. 27, claiming not all members initially understood how the resolution could benefit campus.
The group also passed a similar resolution in April 2016 called the Preferred Name Resolution, which was subsequently tabled by university administration, where it remains at a stand still nearly one year later.
According to Student Body President Jenna Dellaria, the Registrar’s Office told her last semester was concerned about leaving the preferred name option as a customizable field.
“We didn’t know how to go about that right away, without people maybe not taking it as seriously,” Dellaria said.
But it’s now Spring 2017 and Student Senate has yet to accomplish anything groundbreaking on the matter – despite still claiming they’re pushing for it every day.
University administration can hardly wash their hands of this issue, either. Bradley has seen no productive discussions, forums or other actions to further this initiative or involve students in its progress.
There’s absolutely no reason the issue should be taking this long to get sorted out and come to fruition. Making these changes to Sakai and Webster should be an easy fix, and it can only provide positive change for the students it affects at Bradley.
Perhaps instead of implementing an expensive iPad into Michel Student Center (in a nondescript location), our administrators and student senators should focus on issues that do direct good to their constituents and peers.
It’s obvious Student Senate and the administration need to work on how they communicate with each other.
These resolutions are meant to better campus, but no bettering can be done without cooperation and a want to help students.
