The Student Senate voted Wednesday not to fast-track a bill that called for the expulsion of the four students who painted racist messages in the Free Expression Tunnel last week targeting President-elect Barack Obama. Maritza Adonis, a junior in political science who wrote the bill, said the Senate’s response showed that “nobody cares,” and while some students have pushed for a University hate crimes policy, Adonis said these four students must be punished first. “I don’t want to be sitting next to them [in class],” she said. The Senate will reconvene for a special meeting next Wednesday to discuss the bill further, after it has been voted on by a committee. The messages left in the Free Expression Tunnel Nov. 5 came the morning after the election of Sen. Barack Obama, the United States’ first black president, and the University community has since been confronting racial issues. Rev. William Barber, president of the North Carolina chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, joined a meeting of student leaders last night, and has called for the students responsible to be expelled. Chancellor James Oblinger released another statement on the issue Tuesday.”Many of you have asked what the University can do to stop hate-filled speech on our campus,” the release stated. “There are legal limits to our ability to make rules against such messages.” When explaining her opposition to Adonis’ bill, Morgan Donnelly told the Senate the bill should move through committee before reaching a vote. “We cannot have a knee-jerk reaction to the events that happened last week,” Donnelly, a junior in political science, said. Scott Kincaid, a junior in political science, said the University should not punish the students because the Free Expression Tunnel should allow for free speech. “We can’t kick out the problem we have to address here at home,” he said. Antoinette Russell, a junior in communication, said the incident has made her feel unsafe on campus. “They don’t care about the safety of minority students,” she said. Chalkings advertising a Ku Klux Klan meeting caused similar concerns among students earlier this year, and James Hankins, a senior in political science, said the University must investigate if any students are a part of the group. “There are students on this campus who are legitimately afraid,” he said. Lock Whiteside, student chief justice and graduate student in political science, said even without the fast-tracking of the bill, it will continue to be a focus of the Senate. “We have enough people in the community and in Student Government to keep an eye on this to make sure it doesn’t go away,” he said. Whiteside pushed for a University hate crimes policy last year, and he said with this bill, the Senate is repeating itself. Students look to their leaders to take action, he said, so the Senate needs to send a message it is trying to find solutions. Oblinger’s statement said Vice Chancellor Tom Stafford, Student Body President Jay Dawkins and Associate Vice Provost for Diversity and Inclusion Jose Picart will lead a task force to encourage continued dialogue on diversity issues. Stafford said Adonis’ bill is something the task force would consider when making decisions. The students who painted the racist messages will have to proceed through the Office of Student Conduct, which is conducting a review of University rules to see if the students broke any. Police will not release their identities because the Secret Service conducted an investigation and found the students had not committed a crime.