Senate will consider adding a judicial panel, which would be responsible for trying impeachments, hearing accusations of improper activity or conduct, and evaluating the performance of senate’s executive officers.
At Wednesday's meeting, Ohio University's Student Senate will propose the development of a judicial panel that would make decisions on cases submitted to senate’s Conduct and Discipline Committee.
The panel would be responsible for trying impeachments, hearing accusations of improper activity or conduct, and evaluating the performance of senate’s executive officers, according to the resolution. Once appointed, a total of nine students would sit on the panel until they graduate or resign.
If passed, the resolution would call for an amendment to senate’s constitution that would require a student body vote and approval from the Board of Trustees.
“Impeachments don’t happen very often, but if they were to happen, and the (Conduct and Discipline) chair highly favors the executives, it could be a very unfair trial,” senate’s treasurer Hannah Clouser said. “We think the judicial panel will allow less bias to happen and be a much more ethical option for senate.”
The resolution will be explained to the body, and clarifying questions will be allowed during a Senate Reform Committee presentation. Senate members will not cast their vote on the judicial panel until later.
“I think it’s important for senate accountability. It keeps another group watching instead of it being solely the responsibility of the executives to call out people for their wrongdoing,” senate’s Vice President Jared Ohnsman said.
Last week, senate voted in favor of other constitutional amendments, one of which would change the term “quarters” to “semesters” in senate’s constitution.
“That was honestly a five-minute fix that hasn’t happened for four years,” Ohnsman said. “I’ve been here for four years and never had a class on the quarters system. Stuff like that just doesn’t make sense. We’re just trying to change the structure of this body to make it more accountable to students and make it more functional for students.”
Also at Wednesday’s meeting, senate will propose a budget of about $690 to cover printer-related bills that have been charged to senate’s account this year.
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Senators weren’t made aware they would need to pay for use of the printer in their office, but Clouser recently discovered the charges and wants to make the general body away of the cost for the sake of transparency, she said.
Senate members also will propose resolutions to pay for a Founder's Day open house in the Student Senate office Feb. 18 and to appoint senate intern Abraham Kassem as a minority affairs senator.
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