Being a leader is about making tough decisions. Decisions that are often unpopular and/or reflect the better good of the community always get the most attention – especially from this newspaper. However, events over the past week have forced me to finally speak my mind. Several weeks ago, I was one of 30 SGA senators to vote in the American Red Cross Resolution that would have effectively asked the Fogel Administration to ban the ARC from campus. Due to the fact that the legislation became incoherent and was poorly written – I voted against it. Fourteen other Senators did as well, bringing the Senate to a tie-vote in which Speaker Mike Glynne, exercising his constitutional responsibilities, broke that tie by voting against the legislation because of its structure and lack of clarity. When someone took it upon themselves to attack Mike Glynne by spray-painting “Mike Glynne is a heterosexist shithead” on the wall near Living/Learning’s E-Building – it was a real sad day for UVM. Not only did this person attack another member of our community in a very personal and hate filled way – but they also completely hurt the efforts that people are trying to make in changing an FDA policy that is discriminatory and unfair to gay men in our community. There is such a thing as “I am my brothers keeper, I am my sisters keeper.” We need to look out for one another and this was clearly an act of hate and an act of bias against a member of our community. Don’t let biased acts of hate like this, go unchecked. Call people out when they are being disrespectful. Think about your actions. Care about your fellow students and act to change the culture here at UVM. While this act of hate was clearly directed at Mike Glynne, the person (who didn’t have the guts to sign his name) failed to even mention that there were 15 other senators that voted against this piece of legislation. The Student Government Association has provided students with the tools they need to share their thoughts about the issues and voice their concerns. We want to hear from you. We are not indifferent. I do not speak for my fellow senators or for the speaker but I do speak for myself. I speak because the demand for someone to say “this is wrong” has been too long unspoken. I do not respond well to hate on either myself or god, forbid, someone else. I do not respond well to acts of bias against people in my community. This was nothing but an act of hate. We can do better than this. We, as a community, are better than this.Respectfully,Scott McCarty class of 2008