The Ohio University Student Senate released its evaluation of the executive office Friday.
According to a previous report by The Post, current Senate President Dan Gordillo and Treasurer Johnny Susany originally ran for the Senate executive office under the Unity ticket.
Following the impeachment of President-elect Reagan Farmer in April, Gordillo stepped into the role of president, and a special election for vice president, now Kiandra Martin, was held.
Gordillo said one of the biggest concerns he heard from students was the lack of transparency in student government. Gordillo hopes the evaluation results demonstrate a commitment to their campaign promises.
“There's nothing I hate more in this world than a hypocrite, so I want the world to know that I'm not a hypocrite,” Gordillo said. “If I say I'm going to be honest and transparent, this is me walking the walk. I just talked it last April, now let me walk it for you.”
The results posted Friday to the Senate Instagram showed a positive impression of the administration thus far. According to the press release, Senate members found Gordillo (100%), Martin (79.2%) and Susany (95.7%) communicating efficiently and effectively.
Additionally, the release showed 95.8% of Senate members feel Gordillo represents the body well, while 79.6% of the body agrees Martin represents the body well.
Gordillo said the most meaningful data to him is that 100% of the Senate feel comfortable approaching him with any questions or concerns about Senate or university policies.
“In the past, I hadn't always felt super comfortable approaching other executives,” Gordillo said. “I am super happy that people are comfortable enough to talk to me because I know it can be very intimidating to talk to a veteran of anything.”
Gordillo mentioned anonymous comments he received with constructive criticism from Senate members.
“One of the comments that I got is something along the lines of ‘when I'm stressed out, I get really curt,’” Gordillo said. “I think that it is super important that somebody tells me that I get like that … The last thing I want to do is make other people feel uncomfortable because uncomfortable people can't do their jobs. When people aren't doing their jobs within (the) Senate, we're not serving the student body.”
While only executive officers in the Senate partook in the evaluations, Gordillo said evaluations of commissioners and including outside students' voices are possible in the future. However, there are no current plans to do so.
Anna Flantoill, a freshman studying biology, said being representative of the student body’s opinions on issues such as community involvement and academic support are crucial to the success of student government as a whole.
Flantoill said university staffing is one of her biggest concerns.
“We are such a big and rich school,” Flantoill said. “I feel so bad for this little old lady who cleans this entire floor by herself. (My partner) goes to a D3, smaller school, and they have entire teams for every floor … that's something we should definitely have to have a little bit more relief on people.”
While Flantoill said she’s not interacted directly with a Senate student forum, she hopes to see an increase in the Senate’s visibility to students.
Gordillo said the Senate is creating an online student speak-out form allowing students to provide feedback anonymously or with their contact information.
He said this will allow students to easily share their comments, questions, or concerns without coming to the Senate office or meetings. Still, Gordillo encourages students to communicate with their representatives directly.
“I can't read the minds of the students,” Gordillo said. “I wish I could know exactly what they want and have a plan to fix it, but there becomes a point where the students have to tell me what's wrong or right because I don't have eyes everywhere. I don't have ears everywhere.”
A complete list of the Student Senate executive office’s evaluations can be found on Instagram.
