Declaration 2

This legislation is in the Approved by Senate state.
This has been approved by the Senate and is pending a decision by the Executive Board at this point.

WHEREAS the mission statement of SUNY New Paltz asserts that the college is “dedicated to the construction of a vibrant intellectual/creative public forum which reflects and celebrates the diversity of our society”; and

WHEREAS the mission of the Student Association states that its purpose is to “represent and advocate for the student body,” and provide “educational and social activities for the entire campus community”; and

WHEREAS the Student Senate is one such activity; and

WHEREAS a purpose of the Student Senate is to represent all members of the student body in a fair and just manner; and

WHEREAS it is commonplace in our society to use imprecise language when addressing people as in the example of referring to a group of individuals as “guys”; and

WHEREAS use of language in this way can be considered sexist – it makes women invisible by grouping them with men thus reinforcing the ideology that women are unimportant, thereby perpetuating gender inequality while simultaneously reinforcing existing power structures; and

WHEREAS the use of language in this way also assumes that all individuals in the group identify with the male gender- as stated before this makes other groups invisible such as those who identify with the female gender, do not identify with either of the dominant gendered ideologies or are otherwise gender queer; therefore the 48th Student Senate proposes