TL20040405_001 "Baltimore's #1 College Paper - Published Twice-Weekly - www.thetowerlight.com Monday, 4/5/04 Debate members take home cup 'Kaleidoscope1 a mix of events 3, April brings spring showers, shows Rock carries big stick in Walking \T*$ 115 Departments Opinion 2 Campus briefs Nation 10 Arts He Says She Says Entertainment briefs ...16 ..24 Sports In this corner... Face-Off 23 Athlete of the Week 22 Classifieds 20 """"Queer1 group name in question Lisa JohnsoihThe Towsrlight Val Hewitt, president of the Queer Student Union, said the word """"queer"""" is an identifier of the gay, lesbian, bi and trans gender community. Jeremy Horine, an SGA senator, believes the name could offend prospective members of the club. The SGA will discuss the name change at today's meeting. Name change to Queer debate among Student Student Union sparks Government senators Brian Stelter The Towerlight A resolution that would reject a student group's decision to rename itself the Queer Student Union will be introduced at this afternoon's Student Government Association meeting. In an eight to eight vote last Monday, SGA senators rejected the Diverse Sexual Orientation Collective's revised constitution, which included the name change. But immediately after the vote, SGA President Bobbie O'Connell reversed the outcome. """"I'm going to veto that decision,"""" she told the senators. """"I don't think [dictating group names] is the direction we want to go in."""" It is the first time a bill has been vetoed this school year; a two-thirds vote of the SGA senate can overturn the veto. Thursday afternoon, several senators met in the SGA office to prepare the resolution rejecting the name. Sophor ical i Jeremy Horine helped write the resolution. He said the word queer has a negative connotation. """"I don't like hindering freedom of speech at all, but I think you need to be sensitive to the history of the word and what most people see 'queer' as meaning,"""" he said. """"People have been using the word to harass gays for a long time."""" QSU member Julie Schafer, a junior deaf studies and English major, admitted that the word still has a """"little bit of a sting to it,"""" but said that using it is a step in the right direction. """"We were pretty certain that it would be met with a little bit of resistance,"""" she said. """"But we thought it was important for us to reclaim the word as our own. We figured it would be a matter of educating people about it."""" The notion of Jeremy Horine rejecting a student SGA senator 3"""" has' made some senators uncomfortable. """"I believe the SGA was really overstepping our boundaries,"""" SGA senator David Butler said. The student government consti- n orga- """"I don't like hindering freedom of speech at all, but I think you need to be sensitive to the history of the word and what most people see 'queer' as meaning."""" tution does not state that a nization can be rejected based on its name, but the SGA can decide to disaffiliate itself with a student group at their discretion, Jason Heiserman, assistant director of student activities, said. """"[A group] can operate with whatever name they want, but they run the risk of being unaffiliated,"""" he explained. SGA affiliation comes with benefits including room reservations, office space, space in the SGA's ads in The Towerlight, copying services and financial support. Heiserman noted that he didn't think disaffiliation would occur in the QSU's case. At last Monday's meeting the change was discussed for nearly half an hour. More than a dozen QSU members sat in the audience; many of them seemed surprised by resistance to the name change. Butler abstained from the vote because he is a member of QSU. Shortly before the vote, he told the senate that organizations should be See GROUP, page 10"
