Student senators passed a measure of support for UW students identifying as “transgender, non-binary, and otherwise gender non-conforming” in its most recent session Tuesday, along with a resolution advocating new policies for tuition revenue allocation that will be presented at this week’s UW Board of Trustees meeting.
Senate Resolution 2635, “ASUW Support of Transgender, Nonbinary, & Otherwise Gender Non-Conforming Students,” passed with a unanimous vote after the removal of certain clauses and addendums.
“I’ve been talking with a lot of LGBT members of our community and just discussing ways to better our campus,” College of Agriculture Senator Jordan Pierson said. “I thought this statement of support, even though it doesn’t do much action-wise, shows that ASUW supports queer students.”
Pierson, a co-author of the resolution, said it would go on to prompt additional action by UW administration and ASUW and “is a good starting point for more legislation to come.”
Amended out of the final resolution during discussion was a clause stating that ASUW would acknowledge a US Department of Health and Human Services memo that calls for a legal definition of sex for Title IX purposes as “an attack on transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming people and students at the University of Wyoming.”
Removed along with that clause was an attached New York Times article about the memo, which leaks only a few lines of the memo itself while asserting that the memo is an example of the Trump administration’s efforts to “roll back recognition and protections of transgender people under federal civil rights law,” while the memo itself does not include mention of the concept of gender.
Senators in support of removing the clause and its addendum argued that it was unnecessary and not suitable for inclusion in ASUW legislation.
“We could take it out and still argue the same intent for this campus,” College of Arts and Sciences Senator Maurie Mueller said. “It’s not a memo, it’s a New York Times article. I think it would be more appropriate to include something the current administration has said.”
The memo is not publicly available. According to the Times article, the DHHS’s intent is seeking to “establish uniformity in government,” particularly in regulations concerning discrimination and health programs receiving federal funds, through a definition of sex based on biology and distinct from gender identity.
Also passed by student senators with a vote of 23-7 was SR 2636, “ASUW Support of the Establishment of Student Success Priorities.” Authored by ASUW President Seth Jones, the resolution recommends that a more specific review process be added to future UW tuition policy in order to better allocate funds across campus in the interests of students, rather funneling tuition revenue solely into the libraries and IT (after staff and faculty salaries).
“When we look at could be falling under the umbrella of what can be funded, it should be towards those things that are leading towards the success of students and putting a priority on such,” Jones said.
Jones will present SR 2636 to the Board of Trustees during its monthly meeting, taking place Nov. 13-15 at the Marian H. Rochelle Gateway Center.
Introduced at the meeting in connection to the Student Success Priorities recommendations was Senate Bill 2637, “Creation of the ASUW Mandatory Student Fee and Tuition Allocation Review Committee,” which would change ASUW bylaws to create a new and improved committee to hear mandatory fee requests from units on campus in order to “allocate 2 percent of annual tuition increases to university fee units that it deems will make the most impact on student success.”
