Prompted by pointed fingers and passionate pleas from Latino Student Union members last night, Undergraduate Student Government defended their Jan. 31 vote against lowering Ohio flags for soldiers killed in battle.

In that informal vote, USG decided not to join LSU in their letter writing campaign.

LSU has collected 523 student signatures for a petition to accompany their letter writing campaign. When USG voted in January, few senators had similar numbers to present about general student population on the issue. Several senators commented that they had abstained from the vote because there were not such numbers available.

“Our organization has done the footwork you have not,” said LSU Political Action Chair Jeff Nolish, when he presented the totals of student signatures.

Nolish read a prepared statement from the general assembly of LSU. The statement criticized USG for their January vote, and asked USG to reconsider. The entirety of LSU is “dissatisfied with this action [the January vote],” and “move to hold [USG] accountable for rejecting our request without properly ascertaining the will of the undergraduate student community,” according to the statement that Nolish read at the meeting.

Nolish told senators that last year’s chief of staff, Paul Worley, is now in the U.S. military.

When Nolish ran into Worley on campus recently, the former USG senator said, “You tell ’em Paul Worley said to reconsider.”

In a BG News poll of 254 readers, 75 percent were in favor of lowering flags to half staff to honor Ohio soldiers.

The online poll may not be completely accurate, according to Sen. Nathan Wiedenhoft, because students may be able to vote more than once.

Several USG Senators were skeptical of the number of students who signed petitions that Nolish and LSU President Raquel Colon presented.

Colon also called out USG senators for not showing LSU speakers respect during their open forum presentations.

“I look out and see senators with their eyes closed,” said Colon, adding that other senators crossed their arms and rolled their eyes.

USG President Alex Wright voiced his continual support of a flag lowering campaign, but was insulted that LSU would criticize USG.

“To question our hearts,” Wright said, “I don’t agree with that.”

Nolish was not able to wrap up his argument, after USG Speaker Chris Pearsy denied another extension to debate. Nolish did not respond to many of the questions, because he wanted to answer all the questions at once during his conclusion, he said. After the meeting, Nolish said that he felt “sad, angry and disappointed.”

Also at the meeting, USG voted in favor of two more resolutions from USG Sen. Greg Malkin that denounce the academic honesty policy. The first new resolution supported a newly approved student organization, Advocates for Students Accused of Cheating. The same resolution also called the academic honesty policy “unjust” for 16 different reasons.

The second resolution–co-authored by Wright–would allow students accused of cheating to use “lack of intent” as a defense to prove their innocence. The resolutions read that “students who make an honest and unintentional mistake should not face such serious consequences.”

Glen Egelman also spoke during open forum for the second time this year. His message yesterday was much like that of his previous presentation. Egelman asked USG to vote in support of required supplemental insurance for students.

USG tabled a resolution that would support a “hard waiver” for insurance until next meeting. The next meeting is scheduled for Monday after spring break.