Fresno State’s Associated Students, Inc. rejected a resolution calling for the support of building a Jesus statue in the Peace Garden and also approved funding for the Gun Club’s trap and skeet team for new uniforms and, possibly, shotgun shells.
The resolution — formally dubbed the “Resolution in Support Recognition of Jesus of Nazareth’s Contribution towards Peace” and proposed by senator at large Neil O’Brien — failed to pass in the latter part of Wednesday’s meeting that was stopped midway due to audience unrest regarding denial of funding to ethnic clubs.
Senators posed several questions as to whether or not the resolution should pass during their discussion period, conducted before a large crowd.
Senators questioned the feasibility (deciding where the statue would be placed) and debated about the separation of church and state before ultimately deciding to reject the resolution proposal.
“I don’t see why ASI has any reason to take a stand on this issue,” said Anthony Farnesi, a senator on the finance committee.
A resolution, though nonbinding and unable to change university law or policy, reflects ASI’s stance on a position.
The Peace Garden, built in 1990 and located north of the Henry Madden Library, features four sculptures — Ghandi, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Cesar Chavez and Jane Addams.
Dr. Sudarshan Kapoor, a professor emeritus at Fresno State who led the efforts to build the Peace Garden, said the figures currently in the garden represent advocates of civil rights.
It’s not the first time talks of adding sculptures of religious figures have risen, said Kapoor, who was not consulted by ASI on the resolution proposal. Previous efforts to add sculptures of Buddha and St. Francis of Assisi did not materialize, primarily because they are religious figures.
“We’ve had similar requests in the past for some religious figures to be installed in the Peace Garden,” Kapoor said.
“Because of the separation of church and state concept, we have never actually considered it appropriate to place a religious figure. The figures that we have present are there primarily because they were advocates of civil rights. They were spokespersons of nonviolence.”
Discussion for the resolution had been postponed during the Feb. 19 meeting and brought back to the table during ASI’s most recent meeting.
Members of the public, mostly there in protest of denied funding to MECh@ and other multi-cultural clubs, attempted to interject in the discussion to voice disapproval — after the meeting’s public comment period — before one member was given the opportunity to speak.
“I believe that the university needed it,” O’Brien said of the resolution, “and it just so happened that the students yesterday chose not to support it because of the overwhelming pressure they felt from the mob that showed up in the crowd.”
Gun club’s funding approval might cover shotgun shells
ASI also approved conditional funding for the Fresno State Gun Club’s Trap and Skeet team to purchase vests and ammunition pouches (uniforms) — $2,000 that, depending on consultations between ASI and Fresno State Risk Management, could also be used to cover the team’s ammunition expenses.
The university’s risk management department oversees what funding from the school is appropriate or inappropriate under the CSU chancellor’s description of a club sport.
If deemed appropriate, the gun club would be allowed to purchase shotgun shells for practice use — which ASI vice president of finance Rebecca Rosengarten said could be likened to buying “soccer balls for the soccer team” during the meeting.
Several senators voiced uneasiness about ammunition funding.