Emotions escalated at the Undergraduate Senate Sunday when Senator-at-Large Joseph Chmielewski moved to dissolve the Committee for the Review of Military Policy. The senate chose not to dissolve the committee after Class of 2013 Senator and Committee Chairman Brett Atanasio gave a review of the work the committee has done and its goals for the future.
The Committee for Review of Military Policy was formed during the Fourth Undergraduate Senate to deal with the federal policy of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell by establishing the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Emergency Scholarship Fund. Don't Ask, Don't Tell prevents gays from serving openly in the U.S. military.
The Fund aids students who have lost their Reserve Officer Training Corp scholarships because they were discharged under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and therefore might have to drop out of school because of financial difficulty, Atanasio said.
This scholarship fund is now being researched and if found feasible, the committee will draft a proposal, according to Atanasio.
Chmielewski said he had difficulties finding specific information on the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Emergency Scholarship proposed by the committee and thought it would important for the Senate to hear more information through debate.
“I knew it was going to make me look like an ass trying to dissolve the committee, but like I said, just because it’s been around forever, I don’t think many of the new senators knew anything about it,” Chmielewski said. “We still needed to talk about it.”
The committee has brought issues to the Senate, such as denial of use of AU facilities by ROTC, only to have the AU administration ask for more specific reports, Atanasio said. “The idea that ROTC cannot affect AU students while they are students here is patently false,” Antanasio said.
Atanasio said the Senate can address these issues once and for all through the Committee for the Review of Military Policy.
“If the administration wanted us to be more specific, then the Senate would create a proposal so specific and so detailed that it was literally impossible to accuse it of being vague,” Atanasio said.
After Atanasio’s speech, Chmielewski withdrew his movement to dissolve the committee.
“I thought it was deserving of debate,” Chmielewski said. “Though I was shut down by another senator, I learned a lot, which was the point.“
Board of Elections Director and RHA President Anthony Dunham commended Chmielewski on his courage to bring forth his movement.
“Thank you for your courage to stand up and make the motion you thought was right,” Dunham said to Chmielewski. “That is one of the things this Senate has always been about.”
Chmielewski said a lack of clarity drove him to make the motion to dissolve the committee.
“I don’t necessarily want the committee to be dissolved — I just figured we need to talk about it,” Chmielewski said. “I was reading over it, and a lot of aspects don’t seem pertinent.”
Speaker of the Undergraduate Senate Eric Reath agreed that Chmielewski was right to speak his mind and bring forth a debate.
“You have to acknowledge there are going to be conflicts in this body,” Reath said. “But stand up for what you believe in, regardless of what everyone thinks about it.”
amooney@theeagleonline.com
