During its campaign last year, the Ohio University Student Senate UNITE ticket, which now occupies office, emphasized connecting students and bringing them together, namely through social media.
This year, senate has made concrete efforts to increase its social media presence by creating an Instagram account — which has accumulated more than 150 followers — in addition to growing senate’s pre-existing Facebook and Twitter accounts.
“There’s been a noticeable change in our social media presence in particular,” Student Senate President Hannah Clouser said. “It’s been a goal of ours this year to be stronger in that aspect, and I think we’ve done it and will continue to do it.”
Public Relations Director Sara Defibaugh said senate’s public relations team is focusing on social media, event planning and the monthly newsletter to publicize the “brand” of Student Senate.
“Student Senate has a lot of options for students, but I don’t think students are aware of what we can do for them,” graphic designer Nick Preston said. “However, we have been reaching out to different organizations on campus to tell them about funding, and I think they’re becoming more aware of that.”
Despite UNITE’s efforts, many students remain uninformed about senate’s activity, including Natalie Tennison, a junior studying exercise physiology.
“I’ve heard of Student Senate and seen things around, but I don’t know much about it,” Tennison said. “I don’t really know what they do.”
She said that if Student Senate was more active on social media, students would notice.
However, despite being active on social media some students said they never see senate’s posts.
Hadley Munro, a sophomore studying international relations, is friends with a few senators.
“I hear them talking about it, but I don’t know what they’re talking about,” she said.
Munro said she has not noticed senate’s posts on social media, but has seen the chalk drawings around campus.
“I’d be interested if they had more of a presence on social media,” Munro said. “People don’t retweet them and I don’t follow them, so I don’t know.”
Zachary Kautz, a junior studying sport management, said he has never heard of Student Senate.
“(If I saw what senate posts on social media) I’d be interested,” Kautz said. “I don’t even see anything around campus.”
Defibaugh stressed the importance of students paying attention to senate on social media.
“We’re not going to overwhelm students with posts, but it’s good to know what’s going on around your campus,” Defibaugh said. “Students should definitely follow our social media accounts. It’s a great resource for students.”
She said senate primarily posts about their events and decisions they have made, so that students are aware of the decision-making processes that senate undergoes.
“In past years, students didn’t see a change or what was actually going on,” Defibaugh said. “It’s really important for a government to be transparent for the people. We want more students to come to us with their concerns because we are the ones that can help them with the changes they want to see.”
