Ohio University Student Senators have solidified plans to begin attending student organization meetings and take a more proactive approach to student representation.
At the Feb. 12 senate meeting, senators adopted a resolution to require voting members of senate to attend registered student organization meetings. The resolution will officially begin next school year, but senators have started plans for a trial run this Spring Quarter.
"Senate took a big step in improving the way we're going to represent students," said University Life Senator Dustin Wood immediately after the resolution was adopted. Wood created the policy change and resolution, which faced some initial debate in senate but was revised and adopted with two dissenting votes. Dissenting votes came from Isaac Higgins, the student activities commissioner, and Clayton Henson, an off-campus life senator.
Senate President Katherine Smith said the spring trial will be an opportunity to explore the logistics of dividing the list and acquainting senators with the process.
Vice President Matt Hunter will be responsible for dividing the list of student groups and assigning them to senators. He said because the visits are not required for this spring, he will offer incentives for senators, such as waiving some office hours in exchange for attending the organization meetings.
Hunter will work with Jamie Walters, the student organization liaison in senate. Walters compiled a list of registered student organizations at the beginning of this school year; Hunter will divide the list among senators. Senators will attend meetings for groups to which they already belong and related groups.
Smith created the liaison position for this school year. She said the position was created to contact student groups and attempt to attend some organization meetings. She said she hopes that the position will continue next year to update the master list of student organizations and contact information.
Next year, the responsibility will be passed on to the next senate vice president.
Despite the new resolution, Smith said it is "difficult to combat student apathy." She said there is always a question of how much energy to commit to student apathy.
"We're there to represent students and serve students, but we have other projects," Smith said.
Smith said previous attempts to communicate with students and groups have included extensive public relations campaigns, such as distributing fliers at College Gate, some all-campus e-mails and an e-mail list-serv. Smith said students can sign up for the list-serv on the Student Senate website (http://www.mystudentsenate.com).
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Suzanne Wilder
