Student Council voted last night to table a resolution to create an Asian-American Studies Program in the College after two rounds of inconclusive debate.
Under Council procedures, resolutions are introduced, tabled automatically for a week and voted on at the next meeting.
Last night's vote tabled the Asian-American Studies resolution, which was introduced Sept. 7, for an additional week.
"The movement for this program is something that's been going on for 10 years now," said College Rep. Tom Gibson, who introduced the resolution. "I'm convinced that the College has not responded to the demand for this program. If this is going to happen, now is the time to do it."
College Rep. Elizabeth Chu argued that an Asian-American Studies Program would enhance the University's academic reach.
"Asian Studies focuses only on East Asia," Chu said. "Asian-American Studies focuses on Asians and their role in the history of America. This program should have been in place a long time ago, and the fact that there is no program here is sad."
While every speaker from the representative body supported the idea of an Asian-American Studies Program, several said more research needed to be done before Council passed the resolution.
"I think a program of study like this is a necessity," College Rep. Josh Eubank said. "I wanted, however, to iron out some of the technicalities of the resolution, verify that there is sufficient student support and make sure the administration of such a program was viable. We need more information, and that's the spirit of my concern."
After two rounds of arguments presented by supporters and opponents of the resolution, a vote by voice acclamation proved inconclusive.
Council President Noah Sullivan motioned to table the vote for an additional week so that a number of disagreements about the resolution could be resolved.
"I think it is important to scrutinize every resolution we pass," Council Vice President for Organizations Rebecca Keyworth said.
Gibson, however, expressed concern about the vote to table the resolution for another week.
"What does it say to the student body if Student Council votes down this program of study when there is already Latin-American Studies, African-American Studies and studies of other minority groups?" Gibson said. "I am disappointed that the representatives did not contact me earlier about the questions that they had, but I understand that this is a learning process."
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