With the war looming for the past several months, over 50 colleges and a few high schools have taken stances on the Iraqi conflict, despite their campus limitations.
Whether the resolution is strongly anti-war or more neutral, for symbolic or practical purposes, the bodies acknowledge their importance in inciting student reactions.
Nevertheless, Penn's Undergraduate Assembly is not one of the growing number of colleges confronting the issue, despite the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly's passage of its "resolution against war with Iraq."
"President Bush doesn't care what the UA thinks on the war," UA Chairman and College senior Seth Schreiberg said.
But GAPSA Chairman Jeremy Korst said that "the role of a student government is to act upon issues that are of concern to their constituency." Similarly, the University of Texas at Austin Student Government Assembly's Vice President Stacey Kounelias noted that "a student's concern doesn't necessarily lie within what happens on our campus."
Although UA Vice Chairman Ethan Kay agrees that the war concerns his constituency "psychologically," he maintains that the UA functions "more appropriately dealing with issues that will add value to the collective University experience."
Korst said that GAPSA is "voicing their concerns on this issue with the hope that someone will listen but knowing full well that it is unlikely that their voices are going to have any real impact."
Some student governments around the country are putting forth a statement of solidarity rather than setting tangible goals.
Southern Illinois University voted on a resolution that stated violence should not be an immediate solution and reinforced support for U.S. troops -- Undergraduate Student Government Vice President Neil Young said that he was aware of the impotence of its voice.
"We are encouraging [students] to participate in community activities that promote peace," Young said, "but beyond that, we really are just a student government."
The University of Michigan's Student Assembly was one of the first to pass such a resolution. Edgar Zapata, a junior representative from the College of Literature, Science and the Arts, noted that the purpose didn't rest in its practicality.
"The war was going to happen regardless," he said. "But if this encourages people to mobilize and educate themselves, then it is successful."
Drawing publicity and creating a political stir on campus was emphasized as motivation to examine such proposals.
UT-Austin made a symbolic gesture through its unified stance for peace -- "If student governments are ultimately a practice ground for future leaders," Kounelias said, "then a campus is a ground to practice the issues of that citizenship."
It helped to "start debate and discussion over the war, and it made students realize it was happening" the UT-Austin senior said.
Cornell's Student Assembly President Noah Doyle said it is attention, not just results, that the resolutions hope to grab. "One of the powers we have as student government is to advocate and bring attention to issues," Doyle said. "And I think this resolution has done that."
Dartmouth College Student Assembly recently issued a more neutral and applicable resolution -- it will fund students regardless of their war stance who wish "to sponsor a teach-in, discussion or other dialogue-encouraging event" and make donations that will aid Iraqi citizens.
Doyle said the issue "goes to the heart of what student government is about."
