hemmekea@lopers.unk.edu
The rescheduled Drag Show was the main topic of discussion at the Oct. 25 Student Senate meeting.
The event was heading into its sixth year before being postponed in a joint decision between the chancellor’s office and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.
“While I and my committee are disappointed with this decision, we do understand that adding an educational component is important because we are a university,” said Logan Johansen, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee chair and the graduate student senator.
Instead of a Drag Show, the ODI event for the month was a movie showing of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” It will coincide with LGBTQIA+ History Month. Last year’s event featured Kennedy Davenport, who was a finalist in season seven of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” and Michael Valentine, the 2021 All-American Gent.
The Drag Show date has not been finalized yet for the spring.
The initiatives of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee played a large role in the meeting.
Johansen highlighted some of the initiatives that the university is working on campus. The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion leadership council recommended to the chancellor’s office to hire American Sign Language and Spanish interpreters for the university. The committee is also working on a land acknowledgment statement for Student Government meetings.
Currently, the ODI website has a land acknowledgment on the top of its website. It reads: “Founded in 1905, the University of Nebraska at Kearney campus sits on the ancestral homelands of the Očeti Šakówiŋ (Sioux) and Paariru (Pawnee) peoples. These original peoples have stewarded this land throughout generations. Their care and keeping of these lands allow us to be here today.”
The statement goes on to read: “We acknowledge the sovereignty of these nations and seek to foster an environment of success and possibility for Native students and patrons. We advocate for the incorporation of indigenous knowledge systems within contemporary higher education practice. The University of Nebraska at Kearney welcomes members of all Native nations to our campus.”
The Facilities, Campus Development and Sustainability Committee are also working on a recycling competition. The committee is currently working with Residence Life for the competition, which is slated to start early next semester.
