Student Senate Blog
By Samantha Pirc, Campus Life writer
April 20, 2007 | 8:32 p.m.
People took their seats, rolls were called and things got underway one minute early at Tuesday night’s Student Senate meeting. This week’s assembly involved heated debate, heartfelt condolence and tabled issues that will likely rear their complicated heads in the future.
Student Senate President Morgan Allen made it clear at the very beginning of the meeting that she wanted to get business done as quickly as possible so that everyone would be able to make it to the Virginia Tech candlelight vigil.
Allen also made it clear to the senators that they need to keep the election time drama out of the senate because there is still business to be done, resolutions to pass; however, I think I could feel the slightest bit of attention in the air.
During round table, one of the senators announced that there will be a group doing fund raising for Misato Kawamura, the 19-year-old exchange student from Japan who was hit by a recycling truck. The group is working to try to cover all of her hospital costs.
Senate dove right into business, by first passing a resolution formally stating the university’s condolences to the family and friends of the Virginia Tech victims.
A large majority of the rest of the meeting was spent on a resolution that ended up getting tabled in the end. The senate was deciding on whether or not to pass a resolution to give the student trustees voting rights. At the basis of the resolution was the topic of shared governance at the university. While some members of the senate believe that the trustees should have the right to vote on important issues that affect the university, others expressed concerns about whether or not the trustees would feel comfortable having this responsibility.
Evidently this topic is not something new. Student Senate brought up the idea of having student trustees vote back in 2001, passing two resolutions asking for voting rights for the trustees with little avail. If in fact Ohio University did give its student trustees voting rights, it would be the first university in Ohio to do so.
Most of the senate members felt very strongly about this issue, and it was the first time in all of my visits to the senate that I saw more than three people speak on something; however, the only drawback to this is that it takes much longer for everyone to reach an agreement. There were so many details to be worked out that the senate finally did vote to just table the issue and wait to have more discussion and a presentation by the current trustees to find out their opinions on the topic.
The last two resolutions that were passed were softies in my opinion. One congratulated the senior administration for accepting a pay freeze, and the other had to do with the commitment OU has made to being more environmentally friendly.
Before time was up, the senate spent some time talking about the Halloween fees and whether or not the responsibility should be put on guests or students. There is a proposed $25 fee to anyone who wants to stay in a dorm on Halloween weekend, but what was causing all of the ruckus was a $10 fee that a committee suggested all students living in dorms pay. The $10 fee would help cover the cost of extra security, but many senate members felt that it would not be fair to force all students living in dorms to pay the fee when they might not even be present Halloween weekend.