A break from classes doesn’t mean members of Ohio University Student Senate stop working for the student governing body.
Over the summer, Student Senate started working on campaign promises made by the UNITE ticket during the spring election, including increased accessibility to gender-neutral restrooms and prevalence of composting bins on campus, Student Senate President Hannah Clouser said.
Clouser said At-Large Senator Sarah Pinter worked over the summer to progress the amount of gender neutral spaces on campus, both in existing buildings and new ones being built.
“In the Sook Center that was just being built, the university funding that’s going towards that is putting in a gender-neutral restroom in Peden, as well as ADA accessible restrooms,” she said. “I think that will be good to have that spot in Peden.”
The Perry and Sandy Sook Academic Center is an athlete-exclusive facility set to be constructed at the north end of Peden Stadium, according to a previous Post report. It will include resources such as a classroom, tutoring rooms, study rooms and a computer lab.
Clouser added senate members are working with the Office of Sustainability on a plan to increase accessibility to composting on campus.
Senate’s Government Affairs Commission also worked over the summer to designate OU as a “voter friendly campus,” she said.
“The voter friendly campus is just kind of to make sure that students have access to voter registration, make sure students are kind of informed about voting, which is gonna be very important this fall especially,” Clouser said.
The Senate’s new public relations team was also active throughout the summer running its social media accounts, she added. The team ran a Twitter contest during Bobcat Student Orientation and kept students informed about happenings on campus throughout the summer, Clouser said.
“Our PR team is doing really great things,” she said. “I’m hoping that what students can really expect out of senate this year is a greater presence. ... We want to be very accessible this year. I think we’re really gonna try to make the transition period from gaining our reputation back to kind of now being more present on campus.”
As students prepare to start the semester, Clouser advises them to be safe, enjoy the year and not to get stressed out as the year goes on.
“Remember that our office is always open, and we're always here to listen to any concerns that you may have with anything in the university,” she said. “If there’s anything that you're thinking about as a student that’s on your mind, and you wanna see change, just come and talk to us because we probably have somewhere that we can point you to start making that change a reality.”
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