Chief Diversity and Belonging Officer, Jennifer McCary, spoke to the Undergraduate Student Government about the making of a new Race and Democracy course for the Spring 2022 semester. 

The course is centered around Objective III, driving public good through redefining student success, and Initiative Nine, the culture of inclusion, respect and curiosity. 

“This course is designed to educate all members of our community regarding diversity, inclusion, and democracy. This course is really going to consider how things are correlated when one thinks about race and democracy,” McCary said. 

The Pilot course (BGSU 1914) will be held during the Spring 2022 semester at Bowling Green State University. It will be a 3 credit course that is hosted for 16-weeks. 

It will cover American history and the United States pre-and post-Civil War. The sections will also touch on intersections of identity, history and content and how students can apply this further into their lives. 

“We are not going to spring this on seniors. I don’t think it’ll be ready to even put on juniors but I think the sophomores and freshmen may have to take this course,” McCary said.  

To enter the course, one must talk to their advisor as it will not be ready to go by the time registration starts this semester. 

USG moved into motion Senate Resolution [S.R.] 05 to debate on whether Columbus Day should be removed from the school’s holidays and be replaced with Indigenous People Day. 

S.R. 05 states “the undergraduate branch of student government at Bowling Green State University calls for BGSU to remove any celebration or reference to Columbus Day from university materials and replace these instances with Indigenous People’s Day.”

Nolan McHugh brought up that USG is asking for the university to hold seminars for students about the Indigenous people’s history rather than celebrate Columbus day. This will most likely impact staff holidays over student holidays. 

A poll was conducted in 2019 according to S.R. 05, finding that 79% of students support replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous People’s Day. 

One new officer was sworn in:

• Micah Burkart; College Panhellenic Council (11 of the social fraternities on campus)

In other terms, Abby McNichols brought to light that the counseling center on campus is no longer doing walk-in appointments but rather all appointments must be made over the phone. 

Their number is (419)-372-2081. They are open Monday thru Friday during the Fall and Spring semesters from 10 A.M. till 4 P.M.