After more than an hour of discussion on the wording used in the religious service learning ban, the University Senate voted Nov. 23 to move the topic to a chancellor-appointed committee for further discussion.

The committee will be formed before the end of the semester, Chancellor Donald Mash said following the meeting.

It will be very similar to the service learning advisory committee, which has student representation, he said.

Once the committee develops a proposal, it will return to the University Senate floor, where it will be voted on and then sent to the chancellor for final approval, University Senate Chair Susan Harrison said.

The meeting, held in the Tamarack Room of Davies Center, attracted about 40 faculty and students.

Mash opened the religious service learning ban discussion with concerns over the language of the ban.

“I would not be able to sign off on the ban as it has been proposed,” he said, “and I wanted you to know that up front.”

As it stands now, students may meet the service learning requirement through religious proselytization and other religious-oriented activities. The ban would not allow students to gain credit for such actions if passed.

After several senators agreed the language of the ban was unclear and needed further analyzing, Senator Bobby Pitts made the motion to send the issue to an unnamed committee for discussion.

Senator Mike Dorsher questioned the role students would play if the issue were sent to a smaller subcommittee. Senator Donald Bredle agreed, adding the issue needs a “stronger student voice.”

Senior Adriel Menard spoke from the gallery, inquiring whether students from both sides of the issue could be included. Senators took her comments into consideration; however, it also was brought up that student input was given through the Student Senate, which voted on a resolution Oct. 25 in support of the ban.

About 20 students and faculty members attended the three-hour Student Senate meeting. The 17-8-1 vote on the resolution was not representative of the students, Menard said.

“I feel that the Student Senate did a bad job of representing the students’ interests,” she said following the meeting.

A meeting date for the chancellor’s committee, which Mash said would include students, has not been set. The ban will not be discussed by University Senate until the chancellor’s committee has reached a new proposal.