A bill devoting at least one-third of IU Student Government’s Student Congress seats to multicultural student organizations passed the student body vote, senior Congress member Steven Rigg said.
Black Student Union president Ky Freeman said the bill passed Sunday night, according to a Tweet.
A total of 1,280 students voted, with 1,009 voting yes, 260 voting no and 11 abstaining, according to an email from Alison Miron, IU student organization coordinator at the Student Involvement and Leadership center.
“For me, I am overjoyed,” Freeman said.
Graduate student Lindsey Batteast, one of the bill’s authors, said the passing offers peace of mind for underrepresented groups on campus.
“Obviously the work to do now is to make sure that student orgs, multicultural organizations know this is an option for them,” she said.
Batteast said she was satisfied with the large majority of votes in favor but was frustrated with the 260 students who voted no and the 11 who abstained. She questioned their commitment to improving representation in IUSG’s Student Congress.
“Are you ready for progress?” she asked.
This story was updated at 11:40 a.m. Jan. 26.
