I have tried to avoid commenting on situations involving organizations that I am no longer a part of now that I have left Ohio University, but what I read in the Athens News on February 5th was really too much. Now that I no longer have to be as diplomatic as I was as Graduate Student Senate president the past two years, I feel I can truly share my opinion about the actions of Student Senate toward the graduate students of this institution. In short, they sicken me.
For Student Senate to maintain that they represent graduate students despite all evidence to the contrary is as insulting as it is puzzling. All GSS was asking is that Student Senate changes its constitution to reflect reality, namely, that there are two organizations of equal value on this campus that represent different constituencies. I will attempt to penetrate the tinfoil hats that some members of the Student Senate seem to be wearing in this letter. Ok, so here it goes. Student Senate, please pay attention because I consider this my last ever letter to the editor.
First a dose of reality, despite the delusions of some current and former members of your organization - nothing at Ohio University operates as if you represent graduate students. I am not engaging in hyperbole, nothing does. You will never be the first group approached by the administration if there is a problem that primarily concerns graduate students. Furthermore, you do not even get to appoint any graduate students to university committees. Tell me how this makes sense if you are representing graduate students? At the very least it should seem a bit strange, but then again, you have never seemed interested in facts when it came to this issue. I am struggling to think of another situation where a group representing over 15 percent of the student body approached Student Senate asking for action, and you did not even take the time to debate the issue in open session? When I was an undergrad in your organization, I remember us taking action to help the men's rowing team when it looked like they would not be able to use Stroud's Run. That was only a couple dozen people. Or what about the sports cuts? That only affected 100 or so student athletes, yet it prompted an emergency meeting, strongly worded resolution, and a member of your organization going to speak to the Board of Trustees. Yet when the 3,000 people who grade your papers, run some of your classes, maintain administrative offices, and help advise your student organizations come to you with a problem, you simply bury the issue in a committee and do not even give it the benefit of an open debate. Perhaps you are just being cute?
What do you get out of this situation? I mean, really, I am unsure and would appreciate some enlightenment. When it came to the two biggest issues affecting graduate education last year, the Centers of Excellence Review and the creation of the Graduate College, you were not even consulted by the administration. Where is your righteous indignation at being left out of the process? There is a whole section of the Vision OHIO Five-Year Plan dealing with support for graduate students. Yet, when GSS was fighting to get a lower general fee and a health care subsidy, you did not even lend a helping hand. We did not even get one of your long on wording, but short on substance resolutions supporting the idea. Not one of you stayed around (sometimes until 3 in the morning) making posters, organizing letter writing campaigns or planning strategy to get these things for graduate students. Where is your sense of shame at not living up to your responsibilities? The points is, there is no actual reason for you to ignore GSS, other than wanting to take credit for a job you do not actually do.
Look, we all get it - it is only human nature to take on responsibilities that require no effort on your part. Sometimes though, logic should beat lethargy, at least one would hope it would. I would like to end this by congratulating this year's GSS for deciding to move on from something this petty in order to deal with more important issues. The budget looks dire, programs are in jeopardy, and the graduate students of Ohio University deserve good advocacy. So, keep it up, and look at it this way: now you do not have to deal with all of the grit in your trousers that comes with dealing with the Student Sandbox all day.
Dominic Barbato is a 2008 alumnus of Ohio University and former president of Graduate Student Senate. He writes from Canton.
4 Opinion
Letter to the Editor
