It’s the end of an era.
As the 2010-11 Ohio University Student Senate marches out the door, another one comes kicking through, after a month of negative campaigning.
During Fall Quarter, Student Senate helped create the gender-neutral housing pilot program, allowing students to room with someone of the opposite sex. Then there was the Know- Noise Task Force, which helped mediate the
constant town-gown topic of the year: noise. These two accomplishments are great feats for the student body. But besides these, senate can’t stake claim to too many other accomplishments.
Passed resolutions seem to be simple post-it notes or friendly reminders to the university and administrators saying, “Hey, don’t forget about us.” It’s hard to find a triumph Student Senate can show off to the people they represent.
However, that is not entirely Student Senate’s fault. Senate only has the ability to make resolutions and recommendations; it cannot, on its own, pass anything into policy. The most it can do is advise OU and make the university aware of students’ needs.
But is the university even letting senate do this? The relationship between Student Senate and OU is supposed to be bound by shared governance. However, shared governance is only a buzzword the administration tosses around to make students and Student Senate believe they are involved in the decision-making at OU.
With that being said, it is hard to put any kind of qualitative or quantitative value on Senate’s work this past year. Half the resolutions they pass don’t mean anything and the other half the university puts on the back burner.
It’s time senate demand more from the university as our student representatives. They don’t need to be the lap dogs of administrators when they can be the voice we students need.
Along with programs, senate should focus on advocacy. After all, Student Senate is supposed to be representative of its student body. It is not necessary for senators to mimic University Program Council. They need to stand up for the students and be their voices at the administrative level.
Each Student Senate should leave a mark for the next incoming senate to build upon. Unfortunately, this years has left little to work with.
