Student Union Senator for Racial Minorities J.V. Souffrant '13 has his work cut out for him. Not only does Souffrant have the responsibility of serving as a representative for racial minorities on campus, but he also has to address the legality of his position and discuss the issue with members of the Constitutional Review Committee. "Honestly, I feel that this is an issue that needs to be addressed. A lot of people that I know are tired of it, are tired of the same issues that are being raised every single year at the same time, so ... my goal ... is to at least make the position into something that everyone can respect," said Souffrant.

Last year, the Student Union Judiciary held a trial regarding the legality of the senator for racial minority position. The trial sought to determine whether the position of Senator for Racial Minority Students was unconstitutional by racially discriminating against students who do identify as racial minorities. Gideon Klionsky '11 and Ryan McElhaney '10 filed suit after they were denied participation in the election by the Union Secretary on the grounds that they were not racial minorities . The UJ did not reach a majority decision on the issue and encouraged the Constitutional Review Committee to reconsider the issue this year.

However, during the trial, neither petitioners, defense counsel, witnesses nor Union Judiciary members clearly stated how or why the senatorial position was created. There was speculation that it must have come into existence during the height of the Civil Rights Movement or perhaps during the Ford Hall occupation in 1969.

Research in the University archives reveals that over the past 30 years, the position has evolved from an appointed Union executive board to a senatorial position as Brandeis students have continuously debated the position's role and appropriate constituency.

According to the current Union Constitution, the senator for racial minorities "shall be elected by a majority vote of all Union members who have declared themselves to the University as being racial minority students."

This year's incoming class was one of the most diverse in the University's history, with 24 percent of the Class of 2013 identifying as minorities. In 1976's and 1977's incoming classes, however, only 6.96 and 9.2 percent identified as minorities, according to a September 1977 Justice article. Two years earlier, according to a 1974 Justice article, some African-American students faced discrimination when they sought off-campus housing. The term used in Justice articles for minority students was "Third World students." ? ?

In November 1976, the Justice reported on efforts to restructure the Constitution in order for it to be more representative. At the time, the Senate president, Rolando Morales '78, which is the current equivalent to the Student Union president, had taken office "as only the second non-Jewish student to the hold the post in Brandeis' 28 year history." Subsequently, a 1976 news analysis suggested that, "his Third World background could prove a unifying force on this racially polarized campus."

Union officials Eric Stern '78, Steven Greenfield '79 and Lauren Levy '80 recommended in a February 1977 Justice op-ed the creation of a new executive board position "directly promoting the involvement of and better relations with those groups which have been historically misrepresented on this campus." The position they recommended for later became the director of community relations.

Students approved most of that group's recommendation, but an April 1977 article warned that due to mistakes in the wording of the Union Constitution, "the director is neither a senator nor a member of the Executive Board. ... As a result, the director has no voice or vote in the Senate."

Later that year, Keith Jenkins '79 was appointed the first DCR. Jenkins, already a Senate member, was at that time the first black senator to serve in three years.

However, in the fall of 1977, Jenkins resigned from his position. "The job entailed no responsibilities. I felt completely ineffectual," particularly because he had no vote.an October Justice article that year quoted him as saying.

The next step in the position's further evolution came in March 1978 when Keith Jenkins was elected Senate president and students passed referenda granting the DCR the same responsibilities and voting rights as other senators, defining the position "as a liaison between the Student Senate and the various interest groups within the campus community."

H---owever, in September 1986, a Justice columnist criticized the DCR position, stating that "[minorities] are no less capable than anyone else of expressing their views to their senators."

The DCR at the time, Jennifer Barner '89, and other senators came to the defense of the position. One senator quoted in a Justice article disagreed, saying, "I am truly insulted by the notion that people think that because my skin is white I can only deal with issues affecting white students."

Against that backdrop, the position became an elected one during an 1987 constitutional revision, which stated that "any member of the Union may be elected to serve as the Director of Community Relations," with only minority students eligible to vote.

Taking note of criticism from minority groups that the DCR was not representing their interests, the Justice editorial board noted "that part of that quagmire will be dealt with next year as the DCR position goes from an appointed one to an elected one."

However, the two candidates who ran for the position in March 1988 were both white. One member of the Brandeis Black Student Association ran as a write-in candidate and achieved third place in the election.

"It shouldn't matter what color my skin is. . I want to work to represent these students and work together with the community," the winner, Marcy Baskin '90, said in an April 19, 1988 Justice article.

The article explained that even though the ballot specified that only minority students were to vote for the DCR, no official list of minority students existed and many white students voted nonetheless.

Minority students successfully impeached Baskin with a document called the BIAS list (Blacks, International, Asian-American students) compiled by the Admissions Office used to verify voters' ethnicity, according to a 1988 Justice article.

Baskin argued that the DCR's definition should be extended "to represent any member of the community who feels marginalized, such as gay and lesbian students, non-Jews and religious Jews."

The position was lastly reorganized in February 1993 into two Senate positions: senate for racial minorities and senator-at-large. The SRM "would serve as the direct representative of the students of color on campus." The SAL "would serve as ombudsman for those groups and individuals who feel underrepresented for a particular reason."

Since then, one key development has been that since fall 2000, elections take place online, allowing for a much greater control over who casts votes in an individual election with minority status information automatically fed into the system from the registrar.

This past election cycle, about 22 percent or 716 undergraduates out of 3,254 undergraduates were eligible to vote for the racial minority position. This number is likely to grow to some degree as Brandeis seeks to increase its student body. In addition, next year the University will adopt a new ethnicity coding system mandated by the government, allowing students to identify as multiple ethnicities.