The Student Government Association Senate took a step outside of its usual boundaries at Wednesday’s meeting when it passed a resolution concerning global warming.

Introduced by at-large Sen. Casey Donnell, the resolution both condemns the U.S. government for not taking action on the subject of global warming and encourages Wichita State to take a stand nationally on the issue. 

Other senators began questioning the resolution immediately after the first read.

“Have you talked with your constituency as an at-large senator, or is this one of your personal projects?” said at-large Sen. Matt Conklin. “Approving this says that all 15,000 students agree with this resolution.” At-large Sen. Brandon James also asked if Donnell had contacted any other students before putting together the resolution. 

SGA President Luis Carbajal reminded James and Conklin that not all issues have to be approved by students before they come to SGA. “Every decision that you do doesn’t have to have a survey behind it. Students are not here to hold your hand as you make decisions,” he said.

After questions, the SGA moved on to debating the resolution, the longest debate they’ve had on an issue all semester. Donnell spoke in favor of his resolution, while other senators pointed out that it might not be the best stance for the SGA to take.

“The idea is that it [the resolution] becomes an official stance. If there’s a lot of blow-back, I think we can readdress the situation,” Donnell said.

“I found it curious that senator Donnell brought up the possibility of massive blow-back,” Legislative Director Darren Beckham said. “I don’t know if we’ve done enough thought to prevent something like that. There’s also the question of back-tracking. I think we need prudence here, not recklessness.” 

Beckham’s statement caused the senate to spend time discussing the purpose of the SGA. Most of the senators took the view that the SGA should not create controversy.

“My thought is, when I look at what student government is to do, what kind of things are we credible to speak of as student leaders,” Beckham said. “Considering we’re representing student interests, is it more about what is our purpose, or are we just making waves? There are better things we could be doing, not saying this is a bad thing, but are there other things we could be doing?”

“Just an idea, I think that the Senate moving forward should decide pretty quickly if a resolution should be the starting point or ending point,” Treasurer Tessie Arambula said. “Do we want to trigger something or end something?”

Though the resolution was up for a first read and would normally require a second read this week before being voted on, a motion was passed to vote on it without a second read. In one of the closest votes of the semester, the global warming resolution passed 13-7-5.