PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Anti-War Resolution Challenged in Executive Committee
by Quinten Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2003 at 4:13 PM
quinten@indypgh.org

Some members of the Carnegie Mellon University Student Senate plan to introduce an anti-war resolution, but discussion became heated at a meeting of the Executive Committee.

"Besides the fact that Carnegie Mellon is slowly turning in to a branch of the Department of Homeland Security at the administrative level, it would be very significant for this [anti-war resolution] to come out at the student level," said Student Senator Michael Moiseyev.

Moiseyev and other members of the Student Senate -- notably Daniel Papasian and Erik Michaels-Ober -- plan to introduce an anti-war resolution at the next meeting of the Carnegie Mellon Undergraduate Student Senate, which is Thursday at 5:30. A discussion of the resolution during the meeting of the Executive Committee of the Student Senate reportedly became heated, however.

The resolution's text states that it's purpose is "to lend the concerns of the majority a common voice" and says that the Student Senate "opposes any military actions against Iraq by the United States that are not in direct response to an armed attack or the imminence thereof."

Although many members of the Executive Committee personally oppose the war, some members of the executive committee questioned the relevance of the resolution.

"How can you do something on behalf of the students that would hurt the students," said one anonymous attendee of the meeting. "Most of our funding comes from the DOD."

The symbolic import of this resolution would be high, said Moiseyev, especially with the recent passage of an anti-war resolution in nearby Columbus, Ohio, and a similar resolution being considered by the Pittsburgh City Council.

"When Columbus passed their anti-war resolution, the neighboring towns fell like dominoes as they realized that they could take a stand and felt more empowered. The same thing can happen here."

No schools in the Pittsburgh area have passed anti-war resolutions, but schools across the country have, including the University of Michigan, upon whose resolution the first draft of Carnegie Mellon's was based.

Daniel Papasian said that this debate has caused him to seriously consider resigning if the resolution ultimately fails. He said that he didn't want to be part of a group that was "so afraid to take a stand on anything."

cmu.edu/senate