The AS Board poses on Friday, Sept. 27. Joe Addison // AS Review
By Stella Harvey
Executive Board – agenda
LAST MEETING June 3, 2020
Elections Code
On June 3, the Associated Students Executive Board held its last meeting of the year. The board chose not to vote on the senate elections code for next fall. The newly elected board will hold a special session over the summer to review and vote on the code before the school year begins.
Anti-Blackness in the AS and at Western
VP for Activities Selome Zerai gave a presentation about anti-Blackness on Western’s campus and within the AS. Zerai’s presentation defines anti-Blackness as the root of most oppression and racism in the United States.
In her presentation, Zerai asked the question, “do Black lives matter to AS employees,” and cited specific examples of anti-Black statements and actions Zerai said she has witnessed in the AS and the board. Zerai also shared tweets from students discussing the discrimination and lack of support Black students have faced at Western.
Zeria said that the AS is supposed to be “by students for students,” but Black students are often left behind. Zerai cited examples such as 2020 being the first year that the entire AS celebrated Black History Month.
Zerai said discussions about systemic anti-Blackness should be happening all of the time, but instead, discussions historically rise when a Black person dies at the hands of police and fall away after individual protests or actions have passed.
Zerai asked the board members how they felt about the questions she raised. AS President Lani Defiesta and VP for Sustainability Trever Mullins said they felt ashamed. VP for Governmental Affairs Grace Drechsel said she thinks that more conversations about anti-Blackness need to be followed up by concrete action by white people within Western and the AS.
VP for Student Services Emily Gerhardt said that the posts many white people are making about standing in solidarity with Black people can easily be performative activism if they are not followed up with action. VP for Diversity Yesugen Battsengel said that she is currently having conversations with the next VP for Diversity to help make targeting anti-Blackness a priority for the future.
At the end of Zerai’s presentations, the board discussed actions the AS can take to dismantle anti-Blackness, and reviewed a statement that would be distributed to Western’s community later in the week. Suggestions included revising the AS hiring process, holding more yearly or quarterly trainings for white students and non-Black students and examining Western’s campus alert systems.