MY NEW HERO
John Claybrook, Texas A&M University Student Body President
After much research and deliberation, I have confidently decided to veto S.B. 65-70, The Religious Funding Exemption bill. Even without the wording that specified particular groups that would be affected in the final version of this bill, the sentiment towards the bill has not changed and has caused great harm to our reputation as a student body and to the students feeling disenfranchised by the bill. […] Although much adjusted in its final form, the good accomplished through this bill pales in comparison to the damage done. The damage must stop today. Texas A&M students represent our core value of respect exceptionally and I’m very proud of the family at this university. Now, more than ever, is the time to show great resolve and come together, treating each other like the family that we are.
Texas A&M University is renowned for being one of the most Conservative university campuses not affiliated with a religious organization in the country. No one would ever take a wrong turn thinking they’re in Berkeley and end up in College Station. TAMU is as tradition-laden and hide-bound as a public university gets. That being said, there are a lot of Aggies who aren’t Conservative White Christians. As such, TAMU has a responsibility to those in the Aggie community of different faiths and lifestyles. Generally speaking, TAMU does a surprisingly good job of accommodating those outside the majority, but there are a large number of students who see no reason why that should be the case. This is where John Claybrook comes into the story.
Claybrook vetoed a bill passed out of the student senate that would have allowed students to opt out of funding campus services if they have religious objectives. Though revised in the bill’s final version, it was clearly directed at TAMU’s GLBT Resource Center. The fact that the bill was passed by the student senate is reprehensible, but at least Claybrook had the wherewithal and common sense to recognize the message that his signing the bill would send.
TAMU student and faculty celebrate the fact that Aggies are part of a large family, and that respect is at the core of the values that unite that family. Unfortunately, there’s a sizable number of Aggies who feel that statement should end with, “…unless you’re LGBT and therefore different from us, the straight majority.” Claybrook understood the message allowing students to opt out on religious grounds would send to LGBT and other minority students. In vetoing the bill, he reaffirmed what Aggies worldwide profess to be about- respect and family. Would that those in the student senate who voted for the bill could be bothered to understand that tradition instead of trying to perpetuate another- discrimination and oppression.
TAMU is a public university, not a private college associated with an uber-Conservative religious movement like Bob Jones University or Liberty Universtiy. Because of this, TAMU has a responsibility to include students from ALL walks of life. The bill that Claybrook vetoed shows a lack of understanding of, and a clear disregard for, that responsibility.
Kudos to John Claybrook for standing up and showing that even a school with a deservedly Conservative reputation can do thing right thing by ALL students, not merely the White Christian heterosexual majority. Sometimes, doing the right thing means doing the right thing.
