The Post will endorse Student Senate candidates in Friday's paper.
We’ve published a letter to the editor asking us to hold off on endorsing candidates for Ohio University’s Student Senate executive positions.
Although we appreciate current Student Senate President Gabby Bacha’s encouragement for us to push students to think critically about this year’s candidates, and hope all OU students read what she said in full, we’ll continue to run our endorsements this Friday, just as we have for years.
In light of the letter, we’d like to walk our readers through our decision-making and why we think it’s important to publish endorsements.
Outside of the executive editors interviewing candidates, Post reporters will continue to cover the senate elections objectively.
Later this week, look for a Q&A between two Post reporters and the executive candidates. Our reporters look for answers that could help students understand who the candidates are and how they’d go about governing next year.
But the executive editors will also pay attention to our year-long coverage of the current senate’s performance, noting what changes we think are needed and what positive leadership has seemed to work. Because we haven’t been talking one-on-one with senate members for the majority of the year, as some of our reporters have, we’re in a place to make a recommendation to the student body that’s separate from our coverage and our newsroom, and more reflective of what our average reader may be thinking when picking up The Post.
We also watch for the debates and forums. Students are fortunate they’ve had a handful to choose from this election season, some featuring down-ticket, but still-important candidates for positions such as at-large senator.
So why do we endorse?
When offering our stance, we try to keep OU students in mind as much as possible.
We want voters to feel empowered in choosing the candidates that best serve the interests of the student body — not their personal motives or the interests of the administration. That’s why we agree with Bacha when she says students need to “seek out the candidates,” on social media, during tabling, at debates or otherwise.
Please do that. It is important to be engaged in OU’s student government. But we recognize not all students can or will do those things. Endorsing candidates can hopefully help those students make up their minds.
We think that’s important. So important that it’s worth sharing. When you head to our website on Friday or pick up the print edition, look for what we have to say. You might agree with us, or you might not, but you’ll be able to compare our coverage and endorsements and create a well-rounded opinion of your own.
Either way, we hope it leads to your vote come March 29 and 30.
Editorials represent the majority opinion of The Post's executive editors: Editor-in-Chief Emma Ockerman, Managing Editor Rebekah Barnes and Digital Managing Editor Samuel Howard. Post editorials are independent of the publication's news coverage.
