Associated Students Inc. Senate members voted no on the Negative Propaganda Act 9 in their meeting Wednesday.
The resolution sponsored by ASI Senator-at-Large Mark Rizk called for the removal of the image of revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara from a mural in the McIntosh building.
The 480-square-foot mural, which spans two walls, has less than 1 square foot of space devoted to Guevara’s face.
ASI voted no on the resolution, with Rizk voting for it and three senators abstaining, including Vice President Omar Gonzalez. He said “there could have been a better process” for presenting the resolution to ASI.
“I think for the main part, a lot of people put their own perspectives aside, their own stances and political views and really focused on what the resolution was representing,” Gonzalez said. “For the right reasons, I think they voted.”
ASI President Chris Chavez agreed that the mural should stay intact.
“It extends beyond ASI’s jurisdiction,” he said. “We have other things to deal with. We have budget cuts, student aid issues, student services issues, so many things to worry about. It’s really a matter of priorities, and the Senate made the right decision today.”
Both ideas of keeping and removing Guevara’s image have inspired mixed reviews from students and staff alike.
“Placing a man who toted an AK-47 next to Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. is apprehensible,” graduate student Gérard Morel Cruz said at the meeting. For Cruz, a first-generation Cuban American, the inclusion of Guevara “creates a hostile working environment.”
The foundation of Rizk’s proposal is based on ethics, with the original resolution claiming that “to display historical figures that are offensive does not demonstrate ethical dimensions of CSULB’s many academic disciplines.” This suggests that Guevara’s inclusion in the mural is a violation of the CSULB mission statement, which “emphasizes the ethical and social dimensions of all disciplines.”
Those against the resolution argue it would be a form of censorship.
Sen. Jameson Nyeholt from the College of Liberal Arts called the controversy surrounding the resolution an “issue of academic freedom.”
In a pre-written statement, he said, “I find this premise to be a great departure from expectations among academics that no ideal, no image and no speech is too controversial to be excluded from the marketplace of ideas.”
In an e-mail, COLA Dean Gerry Riposa wrote, “The mural is art and it is supposed to evoke thinking and new ideas. It is supposed to challenge. No art will please everyone; it is not supposed to. But if it gets viewers thinking about their own ideas, testing one’s own views, then it has done its job.”
In defense of the resolution, Rizk said, “Anyone has the right to express their views freely. I am not against that. But let’s do it in a way that takes consideration of other people.” Rizk distributed notes on Guevara at the meeting, calling him an “individual who stood for injustice.”
He also said, “We do have a culture of freedom of speech, but we also have a culture of tolerance to other groups of people.”
In response to the discussion, Assistant Dean of Students Jeane Caveness reminded senators that the matter is “the college’s academic decision, which ASI cannot dictate.”
Rizk abruptly left the meeting after the vote. He declined to comment on the resolution.