Ohio University Student Senate passes the final resolution of the year before Gabby Bacha and the 2015-16 senators take the oath of office.
Student Senate’s top executives passed their final resolution Wednesday before new President Gabby Bacha took the senate oath of office alongside SOS running mates Jared Ohnsman and Hannah Clouser.
The resolution created the Committee for the Directly Democratic Reform of Senate, which is tasked with exploring different models of government, including the direct democracy that members of the Restart ticket have advocated the entire semester.
Chairs Ryan Powers, Carl Edward Smith III and Samuel Cope will meet during the summer and a few weeks into the 2015-16 school year to begin tackling that initiative.
“We believe very firmly that student participation and governing ourselves is one of the most liberating tools we have in a society that is not democratic,” said Megan Marzec, outgoing Student Senate president.
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“I think it’s time to open this friggin’ body up so everyone can fight for themselves,” said Ryant Taylor, former LGBTQA commissioner and a former Post columnist, who supported a previous resolution to open voting to all students who attend at least two consecutive meetings.
That resolution inspired the creation of the new committee.
Also at Wednesday’s meeting, the 2014-15 senators reflected on a year that began with Marzec’s infamous “blood bucket” challenge.
In September, Marzec posted a video online in which she dumped a bucket of fake blood on her head and urged the university to divest from Israel, garnering international attention.
“For once, someone stood up for something that was really risky,” Charlotte Bassam-Bowles, former senate conduct and discipline chair, said of the event.
Another senator, Jacob Chaffin, commended Marzec for her bravery in his reflection.
“I realized I could never be Megan Marzec because I don’t have that kind of courage,” Chaffin said.
Before handing the gavel and title of Student Senate president to Bacha, Marzec bid a tearful farewell to the body.
“I want to thank people for not only making my life bearable, but also making it feel like real life,” she said.
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The meeting closed with Bacha, Ohnsman, Clouser and more than 30 newly elected senators taking the oath.
The SOS ticket nearly swept the senate election last week, winning all but four of the 34 possible seats.
Student Senate will resume general body meetings in Fall Semester.
@mayganbeeler
