On Monday, the Student Government Legislative Council at the University of Colorado Boulder, or CUSG, issued a statement that the committee would be going on strike indefinitely.
The committee “announced their strike as a call to action for other CUSG members and the CU Boulder administration to address the issues of systematic racism within the administrative process,”according to The Bold — a student-led newspaper at the University of Colorado-Boulder.
In a public statement, the committee cites their objections to the “Chancellor’s Agreement” — a revised agreement signed by three executives in CUSG and Chancellor Philip P. DiStefano — which grants university administrators the right to remove any student government member from office.
One of the committee’s complaints about the revised agreement is that it was executed without public transparency. Additionally, members of the committee have reported believing the amendments to the agreement were made in retaliation of the CUSG members who have spoken out against the racist incidents they’ve endured both within the organization and as students of the university.
As a result, members of CUSG have “objected to the treatment of minority groups, particularly BIPOC women, by administrative and student leadership,” according to the CU Independent — another campus publication.
The objects center around claims from several members of CUSG — who are women of color — who reported having shared their complaints publicly about the “bullying, harassment and microaggressions they’ve faced during their time within the student government,” according to the CU Independent. Executive members of CUSG deny ever hearing about complaints of this sort.
While on strike, the legislative council reports they will continue to meet as a committee but will halt all operations that allow the Executive and Appellate Courts to function — both branches of CUSG that “oversee millions of dollars in funding for programs that impact students,” the CU Independent states.
University of Colorado Boulder Regent Emeritus Linda Shoemaker expressed her support for the strike in a letter to DiStefano and other university officials, recommending they “recognize the systemic racism on campus” and “proceed quickly to meet with these students to design a fair public process to discuss their demands, these systemic issues, and recent secret changes to the CUSG/Chancellor Operating Agreement.”
This is a developing story and The Longmont Leader will update as more information becomes available.
