After an information session last night, candidates for the Ohio University Student Senate now will begin campaigning.
Three parties are officially registered with the university: the Driven party, the Boston Tea Party and the Keeping Education Grand (K.E.G.) party. The Driven and Boston Tea Parties both have full tickets, and the K.E.G. party currently has a partially filled ticket.
Executive candidates for the Driven party are Kristen Jensen for president, Jen Price for vice president and Mike Easterday for treasurer. Jensen said her party has multiple platforms for the different greens, colleges and off-campus life. She said some of the party's overarching goals include working with Students Defending Students, helping the administration push through new general education requirements, improving relations between residence life and students and improving off-campus housing.
For the Boston Tea Party, executive candidates are Mark Mecum for president, Joey Gibson for vice president and Kelly Felter for treasurer. Mecum said the party's goal is to revolutionize the senate, and they plan to work for diversity, a minority student union, a better relationship between the new OU president and students and more musical offerings in Athens.
It's time for a revolution in our Student Senate with all new candidates so the senate can be effective and get more important things accomplished
Mecum said.
Candidates for the K.E.G. party could not be reached for comment.
Jim Hintz, the board of elections chair, outlined rules for campaigning. Candidates cannot compensate any person or group to encourage them to vote, and they must track all of their finances. Candidates may accept contributions of up to $150 from any person or organization. Additionally, negative campaigning is prohibited.
Any violations of senate campaign rules should be reported to the senate board of elections.
Hintz also said two debates are planned for executive candidates thus far, with tentative dates of May 4 and 17.
All parties eventually will have information posted on the Student Senate Web site, http://www.mystudentsenate.com. 17
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Jenny Bonnar
