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Volume CXXXII, Number 17 |
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BSG should represent majority
To the Editors:
As many of you know, a group of students who are members of the Bowdoin Coalition Against the War in Iraq recently collected signatures from over 920 Bowdoin students in support of a resolution against preemptive military action in Iraq. We brought the resolution to the Bowdoin Student Government this past Tuesday, hoping that BSG would recognize that a majority of Bowdoin students signed their names in support of the resolution and that BSG would represent their constituents by passing the resolution on behalf of the majority of the student body.
To our disappointment, the BSG as a whole voted against the resolution, with 14 voting against and 11 in favor. We appreciate and thank those members of the BSG who did their best to represent the majority of their constituents and voted for the resolution.
One option open to us after Tuesday night was to call for a referendum vote on the resolution, which would mean holding an on-line vote next week on the resolution. Our initial response was to accept this option and begin collecting signatures to call for a resolution. After much consideration, the Bowdoin Coalition Against the War has decided, instead, to resubmit our resolution to the Bowdoin Student Government. Given the simple truth that a majority of Bowdoin students have signed the petition, there is no doubt that such a referendum would pass.
We have chosen not to take this course for two reasons. First, such a resolution would set a dangerous precedent. According to the constitution of BSG, such a referendum requires only 250 signatures to be put on the docket, at which time it would be voted upon by the entirety of the student body. In this vote, only 25% must participate in order to make it valid and the majority wins. In the worst case scenario, this means that a majority consisting of 12.6% of the student body could pass a referendum in the name of the majority of the Bowdoin students. In short, the greatest of ills may be passed in the name of the student body if a well organized 12.6% of the school is able to prevail. This is a system not tenable with the ideals of democracy.
Second, and most importantly, such a referendum effectively disenfranchises those 924 students who have already singed the resolution. In choosing to vote the resolution down this past Tuesday, a majority of the BSG members said that they simply did not care about the opinions of their constituents. This injustice should not, and will not go by unchallenged.
We believe that returning the issue to BSG and asking them to fulfill their democratically elected duty to their constituents is the best course of action. In the coming days, we will continue to collect signatures from students who have not yet signed and would like to. The signatures are on display in the student union; we encourage you to take a look at this strong show of support for the resolution. We plan to bring the resolution back to the BSG this coming Tuesday, and we hope that by this time the BSG, as a democratically elected body, will recognize its responsibility to represent the majority of Bowdoin students by passing the resolution.
Sincerely,
The Bowdoin Coalition Against the War
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