Through resolutions to support #HANDSUPWALKOUT and extend voting rights to vice commissioners, Student Senate will vote to back student-led rallies and the expansion of voting rights for the second week in a row.
Through resolutions to support #HANDSUPWALKOUT and extend voting rights to vice commissioners, Student Senate will vote to back student-led rallies and the expansion of voting rights for the second week in a row.
During Wednesday night’s meeting, senate will vote on a resolution supporting #HANDSUPWALKOUT. The walkout is a national call to action for college students to conduct walkouts to raise awareness of police violence against black people.
The idea for the walk-out came in response to the death of Mike Brown, a black teenager who was killed by a police officer on Aug. 9 in Ferguson, Missouri. “Hand’s Up, Don’t Shoot!” was a chant shouted by many protesters in the wake of Brown’s death.
If passed, this resolution would aim to be a show of solidarity with “those who demand a true and democratic change,” according to the language of the resolution. Another goal of this resolution is to encourage senate members to assist in mobilizing faculty and students for the walk-out, rally and demonstration that will take place at Ohio University on Oct. 22 at 12:01 p.m.
“It’s great to see students on the Ohio University campus getting involved in an issue that is happening nationwide,” said Rose Troyer, senate’s chief of staff. “We need to see more demonstrations like this so that more people can become educated on the issue.”
After extending the right to vote at senate meetings to members of the Senate Appropriations Commission at last week’s meeting, senate plans to further expand voting privileges with a resolution to extend voting rights to vice commissioners.
Currently, only commissioners can vote on senate resolutions; vice commissioners cannot currently vote.
In addition to the resolutions, senate will hear presentations from the American Red Cross and Tyler Barton on “Trends in Higher Education Policy: Roots and Solutions.”
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