Screen capture from The Western Front's livestream of the meeting By Kiaya Wilson In a unanimous vote, the faculty senate passed a motion to create a subcommittee that will work on revising Section II of the Faculty Code of Ethics on Monday, Oct 7. The most recent revision to the Code of Ethics says that “the faculty are to avoid and condemn racism … In particular, faculty condemn verbal use of the n-word racial slur in learning environments.” While he agrees with the spirit of the statement, United Faculty of Western Washington University President Rich Brown said the faculty senate cannot add this to the Code of Ethics because it does not include legally binding language. “There is no legal definition of racism, and ‘condemn verbal use of the n-word’ is not legally binding,” Brown said. This subcommittee will include three faculty members and three students. Faculty and students will be nominated by the campus community by Oct. 14. The subcommittee will present their agreed upon revision to the faculty senate on Nov. 4.
