The Associated Students of the University of Wyoming failed to pass Resolution 2379: ASUW Support for the Preservation of a Censorship Free Environment on Tuesday.
ASUW first moved into a committee as a whole to discuss the resolution before moving on to not pass the resolution with a vote of 15-15.
“There’s been a fairly large outcry from our constituents for this and I think it is about time that we take a stance on this,” College of Agriculture senator Josh Messer said.
The bill came about after the removal of the Carbon Sink created controversy. However, some senators addressed the fact that the Carbon Sink was not the only piece of art to be removed from campus.
“I think one of the points that we need to realize that this is not the only piece of art that was taken out, there were other conservative and political pieces that were taken out and they were all temporary pieces of art,” College of Arts and Sciences senator Alex Brink said.
Because the bill states that the senate would like the presidential selection committee to take the topic of censorship into consideration when selecting the next university president, some felt that the bill was a criticism of UW President Tom Buchanan.
“I talked to some folks at Old Main and found that the president removed the Carbon Sink indiscriminately and defended it for seven months and even had it repaired after it suffered water damage,” Brink said. “I think he’s done a lot for this campus and I think this would just be a slap in the face as we approach his retirement.”
ASUW President Joel Defebaugh also asked the senate if it wanted to pass this resolution so close to Buchanan’s retirement.
“Is this something that UW students what to send off the president with, especially one who has done so much for this school? And is this really how we want to greet the next president?” Defebaugh asked.
Some senators countered the argument and said the bill was not targeting Buchanan and that it was merely making a statement against censorship.
“Everyone but the students has gotten a chance to speak about this issue at our university,” College of Arts and Sciences senator Kathryn Hasley said. “This is something that we need to constantly be reminding ourselves of and this is in no way a persecution of President Buchanan. Academic freedom should be priority.”
College of Arts and Sciences senator Kia Murdoch felt that Buchanan should not have even been brought up in the discussion.
“I would prefer it if you would all remove President Buchanan from this discussion. We shouldn’t decide to not talk about censorship and we shouldn’t decide to not listen to our constituents just because we respect our president,” Murdoch said.
College of Business senator Mitchell Nedved said that while he was not offended by the Carbon Sink one way or another, he felt like the Board of Trustees had already addressed the issue.
“All of our economy is derived from minerals and I wouldn’t be offended either way if I saw it,” Nedved said. “I think it served its purpose and I think we need to trust our Board of Trustees and realize that they are already considering these issues.”
Some felt that even though the energy industry does contribute to the university’s funds, it should still not be allowed to have a say in campus activities.
“Obviously the energy industry does do a lot of things for this campus but it is not targeting the energy industry this is targeting a campus event,” Messer said. “When you donate to this school, it entitled you to name placement, it should not allow you to dictate what students learn.”
After the senate moved out of committee as a whole, it failed to pass the resolution.
