Two tickets, UNITE and Impact, are competing for Student Senate seats and about 50 people attended the event sponsored by the senate’s Board of Elections, who served as the moderators.
As students got coffee in Front Room, the two Ohio University Student Senate tickets debated Thursday night.
The two tickets, UNITE and Impact, are competing for Student Senate seats and about 50 people attended the event sponsored by the senate’s Board of Elections, who served as the moderators.
UNITE is led by presidential candidate Hannah Clouser, vice presidential candidate Courteney Muhl and treasurer candidate Steve Lichtenfel.
Impact's executives include presidential candidate Jordan Kelley, vice presidential candidate Alexis Apparicio and treasurer candidate Kiera Fletcher.
UNITE’s ticket name stems from a “disconnect between the student body,” Clouser said.
Senate should be about impacting the lives of the students, Kelley said.
Some of the biggest challenges facing students on campus have to do with student safety, Fletcher said.
“There are a lot of students here who feel unsafe,” Fletcher said.
Part of Impact’s plan to make students feel safer on campus is increasing the number of blue lights on campus and improving the busing around campus, Fletcher said, adding that she can “barely ever find” the blue lights on campus.
However, Clouser raised concerns about the blue lights and said she fears they could be an “enormous” cost.
UNITE’s presidential candidate said there is no single issue that is facing students.
“Each person is an individual that has their own individual issues,” Clouser said.
Clouser did touch on student affordability as well as racial and sexual assault issues.
Apparicio cited the defacing of the mural that took place in December.
“We also need to realise that we are not a very inclusive university,” Apparicio said.
Lichtenfel said UNITE is going to try to do better with social media and send out a bi-weekly newsletter to students.
The issue of how Student Senate interacts with administrators was also discussed.
“It is very important to be critical of decisions made by administrators,” Kelley said.
Clouser said that Student Senate must respect administrators.
All six executive candidates are current Senate members.
However, Kelley said that Impact’s ticket is composed largely of students who have never been in Student Senate before.
{{tncms-asset app="editorial" id="820accac-ebdb-11e5-9cdb-bb2cd486ecfd"}}
The UNITE ticket is in a similar position.
“Not everyone on our ticket is on student senate right now,” Clouser said.
The search for the next OU President was also discussed.
“It is really important to have a president that respects student,” Clouser said.
Kelley said he hopes the new president will understand OU’s culture and campus.
The Student Senate elections will take place March 29 and 30.
@megankhenry
