On Tuesday evening, the University of Michigan’s Central Student Government met in the Wolverine Room of the Michigan Union to elect a new vice chair of the Rules Committee, confirm nominations for various positions and revisit CA 15-002: The Student Organization Funding Protection Act. The Assembly discussed community concerns and ultimately passed The P.R.I.D.E Task Force Act to pressure reversing Michigan Medicine’s decision to end gender-affirming care for minors.
The meeting began with an election for vice chair of the Rules Committee. LSA junior Summit Louth was nominated and elected in a simple-majority vote.
CSG also confirmed two executive nominations: LSA junior Amina Safiedine was confirmed as vice chair of the CARES Task Force and LSA sophomore Aden Barghouty as CSG’s sergeant at arms.
During the community concerns portion of the meeting, members of OutMD, an awareness group focused on LGBTQ+ medical issues, spoke on the importance of creating a task force focused on supporting gender-affirming care for minors. Medical School student Arden Parrish spoke about how he applied to the Medical School because, as a transgender individual, availability of gender affirming care was important when selecting a university.
“I got here very excited, and within one month of my white coat ceremony, I got the email that (the University) was suspending gender-affirming care for minors,” Parrish said. “I canceled my study plans on Saturday evening and spent the rest of the night talking to legislators here in Michigan and organizers on the ground, trying to make sense of what was happening.”
Parish told the Assembly he understands some people deem task forces to be unproductive, but he believes a task force might put pressure on the administration.
“Queer students are feeling isolated and abandoned right now,” Parrish said. “If that’s how we’re feeling as people empowered enough to attend this university, our patients are feeling that 1,000 fold. What a task force would do is send a clear message to admin to say ‘this is unacceptable.’”
The Assembly introduced the task force act, co-sponsored by Rackham student Erin Neely and LSA junior Keshava Demerath-Shanti. Neely motioned for the act to be expedited to business rather than referring the resolution back for a second read as normal CSG process requires. Neely said establishing a task force needs to be done in a timely manner.
“After speaking to OutMD, we are hoping to pass this tonight, because that’s what they hope for,” Neely said. “Because of the volatility in the landscape, it’s good to get a handle on this as soon as we can.”
Rackham student Angelica Previero expressed her concern that proper processes were not being followed in order to establish the task force.
“I’m not necessarily opposed to passing the resolution tonight,” Previero said. “I’m just saying we shouldn’t start thinking that it is the standard for all resolutions to disrespect the rules and pass them in one meeting, because there is value in refining the resolution.”
AR 15-030 was passed unanimously and the task force will be formed after speaker and Rackham student Devin Woodruff nominates a chair and vice chair.
The Assembly also revisited CA 15-002: The Student Organization Funding Protection Act, which prohibits CSG from spending less than one-third of yearly student fees for funding student organizations.
Business sophomore Jack Bender, vice chair for the Student Organization Committee, said funding student organizations should be one of CSG’s top priorities.
“We’re not just funding balls for the soccer team or equipment for a club sport,” Bender said. “We’re creating opportunities for thousands of students that otherwise would not have these opportunities.”.
The motion required a two-thirds majority but did not pass as the vote was 16 in favor, 11 against and one abstention. Another motion discussed during the meeting was LDA Motion V, proposing $4,700 to be donated to the International Center’s emergency fund scholarships. The motion was passed unanimously.
Daily Staff Reporter Patricia Leoncio can be reached at pleoncio@umich.edu.
The post CSG discusses task to address Michigan Medicine’s decision to end gender-affirming care for minors appeared first on The Michigan Daily.
Leave a Reply