The Student Assembly unanimously passed a resolution supporting the creation of ethnic studies programs at the College last night, but rejected a hotly debated addendum proposed by Unai Monte-Irueste '98.
And while the contention over last night's resolution at times called to mind the politically charged bickering of past Assemblies, the tumultuous meeting ended on a somber note, with the unrelated resignations of integral Assembly members Case Dorkey '99 and Josh Green '00, the chair of communications.
After the initial resolution passed, debate over the proposed addendum led to personal barbs and on-edge tempers which recalled the controversy-plagued Assemblies led by Danielle Moore '95 and Rukmini Sichitiu '95.
During the meeting's open forum, Montes-Irueste garnered the two-thirds vote necessary to bring to the floor an impromptu resolution, which asked for the ethnic studies resolution to include a letter he had written.
Assembly President Jon Heavey '97 then called a 15 minute recess while copies of Montes-Irueste's resolution were made.
Many Assembly members were noticeably tense and on-edge as the meeting reconvened at around 11:10 p.m. last night.
Montes-Irueste distributed the still-warm copies of his resolution and, after bickering over the meeting's rules concerning the number of Assembly members necessary to vote on the resolution, the debate began.
At times, Assembly members sharply disagreed over the validity of impromptu resolutions and the value of the Assembly's "stamp of approval" on resolutions.
When copies of the letter Montes-Irueste proposed to add to the ethnic studies resolution never appeared, many Assembly members said they would not support a resolution which supported a letter they did not have before them.
The addendum resolution was eventually voted down by a 13-5 count, with four members abstaining from the vote.
As the meeting was still technically in its open forum portion, many members voiced their thoughts on the structure of the night's meeting, before Dorkey and Green offered their closing comments amidst enthusiastic applause.
"Tonight was one hour extra in the course of a whole year," Heavey said.
"I don't think this marks any kind of shift away from student advocacy which the SA has become," Heavey said. "It is merely debate, which only helps to promote the exchange of thoughts."
Although Heavey said none of the debate was personally degrading, Montes-Irueste and Assembly Vice President Chris Swift '98 said they had seen some irresponsible personal attacks last night.
Sarah Cho '97, who sponsored the ethnic studies resolution, tabled it last week after discussion over whether to expand the focus to "ethnic and cultural studies." The ethnic studies resolution passed in the meeting's first half amid questions from Montes-Irueste about the state of the resolution.
Montes-Irueste said he thought it was supposed to include an addendum addressing concerns raised in the past week about the resolution's scope.
While Cho, Montes-Irueste and other cosponsors of both resolutions met on Monday night, miscommunication regarding the addendum and letter of concerns prevented them from being distributed to members ahead of time or appearing on the Assembly's agenda for last evening.
