Whereas, on April 8th, the Chancellor's Distinguished Fellows Series invited former Mexican President Vicente Fox to speak at UC Irvine in conjunction to the Center for Study of Democracy, the city of Irvine, and Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, and

Whereas, Vicente Fox was chosen because of his significance in shaping Mexican democracy, according to a press release in the Center for the Study of Democracy, and thus was chosen by the Center to stand as a model of democracy , and,

Whereas, while considering police actions taken by Fox's administration in the small Mexican town of San Salvador Atenco, where Amnesty International reported systematic physical and sexual assault and rape by 3,000 federal, local, and state police, it is valid to question the democratic credentials of Vicente Fox, and

Whereas, while considering the continuous pattern of federal negligence, corruption, and unwillingness to take meaningful action by Fox's administration regarding the sweatshop labor and murders of the women and children of the cities of Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua reported by the National Organization for Women, it is valid to question the democratic credentials of Vicente Fox, and

Whereas, while considering the reports of international human rights violations by Fox's administration from The International Civil Commission For Human Rights Observation regarding social uprisings in the state of Oaxaca, it is valid to question the democratic credentials of Vicente Fox, and

Whereas, it would have been interesting and constructive for the student body and the local community to have engaged Vicente Fox with these concerns and issues, and would have been both informative and educational to have Vicente Fox address these concerns actively, and

Whereas, a number of students who were both interested in and attended the event have expressed their desire to formally engage in constructive dialogue with President Vicente Fox during his Chancellor's Distinguished Fellows Series event, and

Whereas, while there was appropriate and safe free speech space given to student protesters during the event, as documented by the New University, there was no formal question and answer space provided to the audience during or after Vicente Fox's speech where the student body or the local community could engage President Fox in constructive and critical dialogue, and

Whereas, considering the provocative, interesting, and intelligent speakers of the Chancellor's Distinguished Fellows Series, such a space for constructive and critical dialogue could be both informative and educational to the student body and the local community, and

Whereas, a formal question and answer space would not seek to disrupt the event through protest but enhance the educational and informative value of the event through the cultivation of critical perspectives as well as actively engage the student body,

Let it therefore be resolved that the Associated Students of the University of California at Irvine request both the Chancellor's Distinguished Fellows Series and the Center for Study of Democracy to consider the inclusion of a formal question and answer space for the public and the student body in their future events, to both raise the educational value of such events and to cultivate critical perspectives in the local community and student body.