The possible “social host” ordinance will again be discussed at Ohio University’s Student Senate meeting Wednesday night, Senate President Anna Morton said.
Caleb Balduff, a senator at-large, and Joel Newby, president of Graduate Student Senate, will facilitate a discussion with the body about the possible ordinance, which has only been discussed in the Joint Police Advisory Council, according to a previous Post article.
The duo gave a presentation on the possible ordinance at last week’s meeting.
“One thing we’ll be talking about is we’re kind of going into a little bit more detail exactly of what the policy is about,” Balduff said.
Balduff said it’s hard to say what such a policy would look like in Athens because it depends on who would draft and write the policy.
He added that he and Newby will use other similar “social host” ordinances, such as one from the city of Dublin, Ohio, as the basis of their discussion.
“We’ve seen what Dublin has and that’s kind of like the draft and … we’re kind of going off of that,” Balduff said.
Athens Police Department Chief Tom Pyle said there is no draft for such an ordinance, according to a previous Post article.
The discussion will be more informal than the original presentation and will allow senators to voice their opinions, Morton said.
“We want to know students’ thoughts,” Balduff said. “We want to know their ideas, how they’re thinking about this, what are their concerns about this.”
Balduff said he also encouraged students to show up during the student speak out portion of the meeting to share their opinions as well.
“When we say a discussion, it really is going to be just discussing this and finding out how people feel about this issue,” he said.
Balduff said the response he has received so far from students about the possible ordinance has been negative.
“I keep getting, ‘No, no, no,’” he said. “I haven’t really talked to a student yet who is for this.”
Rose Troyer, the off-campus life commissioner, will also give a presentation during the meeting about some recent changes to the bylaws of the Center for Student Legal Services.
As the off-campus life commissioner, Troyer sits on the center’s board of directors, she said.
“The big thing in particular that will affect senate is who’s going to be selected from senate to sit on the board,” she said.
Any senator will now be able to sit on the board instead of the off-campus life commissioner and the senator will be appointed by the president of senate, she said.
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This article originally appeared in print under the headline "Senate to revisit ‘social host’ pitch."
