IF IT weren't so insulting, it would be funny. The resolution proposed by College Rep. Justin Pfeiffer to require the Pledge of Allegiance at Student Council meetings is so insensitive that it's hard to believe Mr. Pfeiffer is serious.
The wording of the resolution is atrocious. But despite the offensiveness of its language, its intended purpose -- requiring the Pledge of Allegiance -- is unacceptable. Every student should urge his or her Student Council representative to vote against this ridiculous resolution when Student Council considers it at tonight's meeting.
The resolution praises our forefathers, who "hewed the forests, dredged the rivers and harbors, [and] fought the savages." Its praise of environmental destruction pales in seriousness to the "fought the savages" line. I sincerely hope that Mr. Pfeiffer got bogged down in a stack of Davy Crockett adventure stories and temporarily lost sight of reason when he was drafting the resolution. Let's hope he doesn't truly consider Native Americans to be savages against whom violence is laudable.
There's more. The resolution makes multiple references to God, calling America "a truly blessed land that God has shined his glorious grace upon" and "a republic under God."
That's a fine position for an individual student or even a group of students to take. If Mr. Pfeiffer wants to create the Virginia Association of Christian Patriots, fine. But it's unacceptable for Mr. Pfeiffer to use Student Council, an organization that purports to speak for all students, to pursue such goals.
By its use of "we" and "our" in conjunction with these phrases, the resolution implies that the desire to praise God is shared by all of Student Council's constituents. It isn't.
Student Council represents the whole student body. It isn't a political club or a forum for self-congratulatory back patting. It's the voice of all of us. This resolution ignores that.
All students certainly are not included in this "we," as the resolution implies. Not all students are Christian, nor are they all American. Numerous student groups -- groups officially recognized and funded by Student Council -- join students on the basis of non-Christian religions and ethnic or national ties to places outside the United States.
The resolution effectively ignores these students. It demands that, through their representatives, these students insult themselves by praising a God in which they don't believe and pledge allegiance to a nation to which they don't belong. Worse yet, by acting as a representative body, it asks students that may be both Christian and American to support the marginalization and insulting of students who aren't.
Where does this narrow-mindedness about the scope of Student Council's representative responsibility come from? Perhaps the problem has its foundations in Mr. Pfeiffer's delusions of grandeur that Student Council is the United States Senate. The resolution specifies that the Pledge of Allegiance be recited in the style of the United States Senate and House of Representatives. Student Council isn't Congress, nor should it try to be.
Reciting the Pledge of Allegiance in the United States Senate and House of Representatives is appropriate because those bodies serve America and its citizens in an official capacity. Members of Congress represent a constituency of American citizens -- they are united in service to America, the entity the Pledge of Allegiance honors.
But requiring the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance at Student Council meetings is inappropriate. Student Council doesn't serve a constituency of American citizens, nor does it have a claim to be American in any official capacity. Its duty is to the students of the University.
If Mr. Pfeiffer wants to propose reciting the University's motto before meetings, to remind Council representatives of the history and goals of this institution, fine. That's appropriate because the activity matches the setting. But the Pledge of Allegiance cannot be an official part of Student Council activities, any more than observance of Catholic sacraments could be.
Get in touch with your Student Council representative and tell them to vote against Mr. Pfeiffer's resolution. Better yet, come to Newcomb Hall's South Meeting Room today at 6:00 p.m. and voice your opposition. I'm assuming you won't be too busy reminiscing about our forefathers raping the land and fighting the "savages" on their way to founding "our" mighty Christian republic.
(Bryan Maxwell is a Cavalier Daily associate editor.)
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