Ohio University's Graduate Student Senate passed a resolution calling for the Athens City Council to add tighter security requirements to the city building code at last night's meeting.
The resolution, which passed unanimously and will be sent to city and university officials, urges Athens to require additional or stronger locks on exterior doors in rental housing.
There has been an increase in break-ins and theft this spring
said Stephan Oechsle, graduate student life commissioner. Oechsle, a co-sponsor of the resolution, works in the off-campus living office.
Also at the meeting, the senate heard from OU health administrators about possible improvements to university health care and plans for a new student health services building.
Charlene Smith and Jackie Legg, executive director and business manager of Student Health Services, respectively, presented options for the senate to consider.
Possible improvements could include increasing outpatient prescription drug coverage and catastrophic illness coverage by varied dollar amounts per year. The addition of either option will increase the premium next year, on top of a premium increase that has already been decided.
For the past three years, the senate has been involved with renegotiating the university health care policy.
Senate President Dominic Barbato recommended that a resolution be drafted outlining all plan options before the senate chooses which to endorse.
Another topic of discussion centered on the senate's efforts to secure university-subsidized health insurance for graduate assistants.
The senate has still not received the final word on the success of its efforts but has begun to plan its response to a possible rejection from the dean's council.
One tactic would be a letter-writing campaign. Another would be the revocation of the senate's support of a $40 optional health fee the university is considering. The senate endorsed the fee last quarter on the condition that the money be used solely for improvements in Student Health Services.
Another presentation came from Student Senate Treasurer Will Wemer, who attended the meeting to discuss instituting an optional student activity fee to increase available programming money. The current operating budget for student activities is $441,159.
Wemer said that Student Senate wants feedback from Graduate Student Senate even though most programming is targeted to undergraduate students.
After Wemer left, the senate discussed possible fee. Amid thumbs-down and boos, Peter Wickman, College of Arts and Sciences senator, said that he wouldn't support any version of this activity fee unless the model does not involve grad student participation.
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Joellen Kralik
