The ETSU Student Government Association passed legislation on Tuesday to cut ETSU partnerships with Milligan University.
Legislation SSR-20-006 “calls on the university to end all athletic scheduling, abandon pursuit of future academic agreements and terminate partnerships in which university monies would be paid to Milligan or other universities with such discriminatory policies and procedures, whether towards sexuality, gender identity, race, age, religion, disability status, or sex of an individual.”
Legislation SSR-20-006 was created in response to the forced resignation of a gay professor at Milligan University earlier this year. The legislation passed with a 17-5 vote by the SGA Senate.
“Senators, your votes today send a shockwave throughout higher education,” said SGA Vice President Seth Manning, who presented the legislation. “It sets a precedent that public colleges with Title VII and Title IX funding have the right and obligation to cut monetary ties with schools that discriminate against these protected classes.”
The legislation will move to ETSU’s administration who will decide how the university will proceed within the next 14 days.
“We have a right to say where our money goes,” said Manning. “We have a right to speak out when something is wrong. We have a right to be on the side of love, compassion and human rights.”
ETSU spokesman Joe Smith released a statement from ETSU on Tuesday addressing the vote.
“East Tennessee State University offers venues for dialogue and discourse and is a place where differences in ideas are considered and respected,” said Smith. “The ETSU administration is aware of legislation passed this afternoon by the Student Government Association. According to the SGA’s Standard Operating Procedures, a resolution is non-binding and reflects legislation that expresses a formal statement of opinion from the SGA Senate on an issue or matter. As with any action involving the SGA, this resolution will go through the appropriate review processes. At this time, the Office of the President has not had time to review the final version of the resolution that was passed.”
