A bill introduced to the Indiana University Student Government’s Congress this fall that mandates appointing a number of congressional seats to minority students will be voted on by the student body today. The bill, written by Student Representatives Rebekah Amaya and Brian Hancock and proposed by student Lindsey Batteast, was introduced late November 2020 and voted on by Congress in December.
The amendment proposal, titled Constitution Resolution No. 1, calls for seats to be added to IUSG Congress to represent students of color and historically marginalized communities. The 19-page bill states that the current apportionment of Congressional seats, divided into academic and residential blocs, effectively dilutes the vote of minority students by “cracking” and “stacking,” terms used to describe redistricting strategies. Cracking occurs when a group of disenfranchised voters are split into several different districts so that they cannot muster enough support to gain a majority. Stacking, an opposite strategy, occurs when a large number of minority voters are placed into a single district, but there are not enough minority voters to hold a majority in that or any other district. These strategies are typically referred to as “gerrymandering.” Resolution No. 1 alleges that because these practices are in use to lessen the impact of minority votes, IUSG’s apportionment system is in violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. However, no specific evidence of how the academic and residential blocs are gerrymandered is given.
The bill, passed at the Congress’ December 14 meeting, proposes a Constitutional amendment adding no less than 31 diversity seats to the Student Congress. Currently, Congress is comprised of 62 seats divided evenly between academic and residential constituencies. If the amendment is ratified, the 62 current Congressional seats will be combined into the Scholastic category, divided evenly between academic and residential constituencies. The 31 Multicultural seats will be reserved for representatives of historically underrepresented communities. Multicultural seats will be appointed or elected by minority student organizations such as the Neal Marshall Black Culture Center or the La Casa Latino Cultural Center. If a minority organization wishes to send a representative to Congress, they may petition for entry prior to the start of the legislative session. In total, the Congress will be made up of 93 seats, with approximately 33.3% of them representing the 33.6% of IU students of minority backgrounds. Additionally, the bill proposes an amendment addressing the legitimacy of a legislative session, stating that at least 31 Scholastic and Multicultural representatives must be present for the session to consider any bills or resolutions.
The resolution sparked intense debate at the Congressional General Assembly meeting on December 14, which lasted over three and a half hours. During the discussion, over a dozen Congress members came forward in support of the bill, praising its commitment to establishing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the student legislative body. Several Congress members also ceded their time to members of the public, who spoke on behalf of various on-campus multicultural institutions in favor of the bill. Despite efforts from Congressional Speaker Garrett Wright to maintain civil discourse over the bill, the heated debate became personal when some of the bill’s proponents alleged that any opposition to the bill’s passage was inherently racist.
The bill was met with a number procedural concerns from a few Congress members, such as the lack of clarity on how multicultural seats will be chosen. The proposed amendment to Article II, Section Two of IUSG’s Constitution merely states that “Multicultural Representatives will be elected or appointed by willing, nonpartisan student organizations.” Without a concrete election process in place, some representatives voiced concerns that the appointment rather than election of members would be antithetical to the nature of the democratically elected body. However, the bill passed by an overwhelming majority, with 41 votes in favor, 5 against, and 2 abstaining.
Although the Constitutional amendment passed successfully through Congress, the changes will not be officially ratified until IU’s student body votes in a special referendum held by IUSG’s Election Commission on January 22. The amendments up for ratification includes the addition of multicultural seats, the guidelines for minority organizations to enter representatives into the legislative session, and a section calling for Congressional officers to promote participation of multicultural centers on campus.
