The Young Democratic Socialist Association at Bellarmine advocates for campus AI ban.
By Ella Gordon
The Young Democratic Socialist Association wants to ban all AI use on Bellarmine’s campus, from AI artwork to teachers encouraging AI in the classroom.
Sophomore and YDSA member Maddie Danak said the group has three main demands when it comes to eliminating AI at Bellarmine.
“An indefinite school wide moratorium on all AI coursework; a permanent ban on AI generated flyers and artwork to promote all Bellarmine’s affiliated events, including athletics and RSO’s because DAT is right there; and a permanent ban on AI generated materials, classwork, or class material and basically professors forcing students to use AI,” Danak said.
Danak said there are several environmental factors that led the group to ask for a ban.
“The generative part takes a lot of water and you know in Rubber Town they are building the data center so the effects of that would be making the water dirty, polluting the air for an already improvised community, and there is also a constant buzzing noise,” Danak said.
Not only does the group find AI environmentally taxing, but members also said that it is unethical.
“It is just unethical. Imagine Thomas Merton was here he would not agree with this... I don’t think it aligns with Bellarmines values,” Danak said.
Bellarmine has a longstanding connection to writer and theologian Thomas Merton because of his values regarding social responsibility and human dignity. Merton was known for being wary of the impact of technology. He considered machines helpful tools while still understanding them to have the ability to take a toll on a human’s spirit.
Philosophy professor Evanthia Speliotis is showing faculty support for the YDSA’s campaign.
“I know that there’s a huge concern among faculty we’ve actually already had several panels going back a couple of years, but this year I am on several committees where we are talking about it,” Speliotis said. “It’s a concern in society in general, but it is specifically a concern here on campus because, what I teach, philosophy, a student consulting AI means they’re not going to be thinking.”
Speliotis said she finds that sometimes learning doesn’t always equal perfection.
“One of the things I have been thinking so much about is that we are supposed to be about learning and thinking for yourself and thinking through ideas and that means maybe not stating something perfectly or stumbling your way through, but in the process, you really do learn something and so in my classes I say I don’t want any AI at all,” Speliotis said.
The element of the campaign targeting AI in the classroom drew Speliotis to the cause as well as student outreach, she said.
“That aspect of it I thought absolutely and that there's interest from students to say you know we don’t want it either. I thought that was great,” Speliotis said. “I also thought it was great because I, too, get frustrated if I'm in a meeting and someone used AI to put together the materials for the meeting.”
Speliotis said while she feels AI doesn’t belong in most classrooms, she is against a complete ban and wants the YDSA to slightly alter their demands.
“It really comes down to that I think the primary business of the university has to be learning and has to be for all of us, and we should be in this enterprise, now having said that... I said I think you (the YDSA) need to soften it a little bit,” Speliotis said.
Speliotis said she is against AI in general but is aware that some instructors use AI to measure or analyze large data systems.
“I remember at first I thought, ‘No, make them do it themselves.’ But then I thought ‘Okay you know not my field, I don’t know and it probably saves time and focuses on what do you do with that,’ so I could see how there would be a place there. But there’s not a place in a humanities class, there’s not a place in a history class, there are all kinds of classes where there’s not a place,” Speliotis said. “So, I said I am not supportive of a complete blanket no AI on campus because I don’t want to tell another instructor you don’t have the right to use it in your class, but I do think that students should not use it for their homework unless so directed by an instructor.
Associate professor of accounting Alisha Harper M. Hancock said she uses AI in her classroom.
“I can speak on behalf of myself. I can not speak on behalf of Bellarmine University, nor am I speaking on behalf of the Rubel School of Business,” Harper said. “In terms of utilizing AI, it’s a matter of allowing students to understand that it’s a tool that is available, that it is clearly a tool that is being used in various business functions, and introducing them to that tool and how it is being used within the business world.”
Harper said her question for the YDSA would be how are they defining AI.
“Do you use Siri, do you use MapQuest, do you use Grammarly? These are all AI, so what exactly do you mean when you say AI?” Harper said. “Artificial intelligence is not gen AI. I think a lot of people, and I’ve heard - not just students - I’ve heard a lot of people say ‘AI AI AI,’ without truly understanding that artificial intelligence is not just gen AI. Every time you use Microsoft Word and it corrects a word for you, that’s AI.”
Harper said in some of her classes she has students use AI on projects.
“So, what I do in my class is I have students draft a tax memorandum, and they use AI to draft the tax memorandum, so I give them a set of facts and they have to respond to that. They then actually have to the internal revenue code and determine what AI got right and what AI got wrong,” Harper said. “Then at the end of the day they have to do a presentation that essentially outlines what the AI memo said and what they found was both accurate and inaccurate including proper citations from the internal revenue code.”
Bellarmine senior Tania Vergara-Gongora said although she is against AI flyers and artwork, she doesn’t feel like AI is an issue in the classroom.
“As a graphic designer, I personally can’t stand AI graphics, you can definitely tell they are AI and it is too fake for me, there are so many recourses out there like Canva that allow you to make flyers so easily just imputing your own information,” Gongora said. “For in the classroom, I am the biggest promoter for using AI. I use AI every single day.”
Gongora said she uses various AIs to make study guides and record lectures.
“I use AI to record my lectures in class while I take notes. That way I can have what my professor is saying summarized in case I don’t get to write everything down, then later I can have it quiz me on certain topics,” Gongora said.
Gongora said she doesn’t support of a full AI ban.
“I don’t think AI is going to go anywhere, so honestly, I think it is important that we all learn how to use AI appropriately and correctly,” Gongora said. “There is not one certain way to use AI, but professors are people, too. They have their own lives so if there are certain things they can do to make their lives easier as well, who are we to say anything if we ourselves as students are using it?”
Despite the intensity of the demands, Danak said she wants students to know that the YDSA is open to change and suggestions.
“In the referendum there are points about how teachers can go and say ‘Like, no, I really need to use AI and this is why,’ like there could hypothetically be a board that reviews that,” Danak said. “We can’t really do anything to stop students from using AI. This is more so the teachers and the university itself.”
For additional information about the YDSA’s petition to ban AI or to get involved with the campaign go to the YDSA’s Instagram account @ysda_bu or their Engage page.