The Latino Student Union bounced right back into action last night at Bowling Green’s City Council, asking local representatives to consider taking a stance on the issue of proper recognition for Ohioans lost in combat.

Last week’s defeat at the hands of Undergraduate Student Government for the endorsement of a letter to Gov. Bob Taft has proven short-lived.

Jeff Nolish, chair of LSU’s Political Action Committee, is confident that by collecting students’ signatures and organizing a mass letter-writing campaign, the voice of undergraduates will be heard loud and clear.

“We want proper representation of the whole campus, which we felt wasn’t the case,” said Nolish, referring to the Jan. 31 USG meeting where senators voted not to endorse a letter to Taft.

“If city council approves this, I think that’s leverage for USG to reconsider,” Nolish said. “It’s possible for Bowling Green to be the city that gives this proclamation a budge, and sees that it passes in the state of Ohio.”

Referencing unanimous support from LSU — as well as support from members of the University’s ROTC program — Nolish presented members of city council with copies of the original letter presented to USG and an Aug. 7 article from the Detroit Free Press highlighting the efforts of war veterans in Michigan to adopt the same recognition program.

The lowering of flags for a soldier’s death has already been adopted by Michigan, Maine, California, Kentucky and Oregon.

In Ohio, Gov. Bob Taft reportedly sends a handwritten note to each family of a fallen soldier.

If agreed upon, city council will first see if a proclamation by Mayor John Quinn is the preferred route of support. If not, a resolution by the council is an option, which would then send the issue to one of the council’s many committees for a scheduled open forum. The approval of the letter on behalf of Bowling Green is an option as well, according to city representatives.

According to Nolish, there were many instances during the Jan. 31 USG meeting where questions were raised by senators regarding the bill that he could have answered if given the chance, but was rarely recognized to speak by the floor.

“The process of the meeting’s parliamentary procedure was stunning,” Nolish said. “It felt like we weren’t considered, like a slap in the face.”

In the wake of USG choosing not to endorse a letter to Taft, LSU members unanimously voted to ask members of the University’s administration and USG President Alex Wright to reconsider.

“I was in favor of sending the letter [to Taft], unfortunately the majority of members in USG didn’t feel that way,” Wright said in reference to the failed measure. “There’s never an issue that’s completely done with. If students would like to bring it back up, they can.”

In a Feb. 7 letter addressed to five administrators and Wright, the Latino Student Union asked that USG be held accountable for rejecting their request “without properly ascertaining the will of the undergraduate student community, and thus failing its mission of furthering the needs of the student body, accurately representing those needs, and initiating any action necessary to meet them.”

Members of LSU will spend the next one to two weeks adding more signatures and letters to present to both Wright and campus administrators. Anyone interested in reading the petition and possibly signing their name on can turn to any LSU member, Nolish said.

“At this point in time, it’s about gathering support and spreading the word, which has been well-received,” Nolish said.

Christina Norris, freshman, joined Nolish at last night’s city council meeting because she has a stake in the Iraq war that will hopefully never necessitate the lowering of a flag: her 20-year-old fiancé.

Nevertheless, if he were to die in combat, she would like to know that his service is acknowledged in a way that everyone in both the state and community will be able to recognize.

“This [flag-lowering] would mean a lot to the service men and their families,” Norris said. “Ultimately they die for our flag, and with this we can show them the respect they deserve.”