Ohio University's Student Senate has forgotten its role: to represent the student body.
At Wednesday's meeting, 22 senators voted against a resolution to place a question on the Student Senate ballot assessing students' confidence in the Board of Trustees. The resolution would have asked students whether they agreed or disagreed with this statement: I have confidence in the current voting members of the Board of Trustees to govern Ohio University. Students could also abstain from answering.
Certainly, reasonable people can disagree about the form of the question. But the sponsors of the resolution jumped through every hoop thrown at them, refining the question and adding the option to abstain. If the wording or form of the initiative needed to be changed further, fine. But the resolution should have been amended, not shot down outright. It seems senators thought that after keeping the resolution at bay for weeks, they should just get it out of the way so they could return to discussing gazebos and planning their next team-building retreat.
Perhaps more troubling is some senators' lack of faith in their peers - they're beginning to show the same disregard toward their constituents that we often see from top-level OU administrators and the trustees themselves. Of course some students are more concerned with Guitar Hero than with what goes on in Cutler Hall. But many OU students are educated, engaged and informed, and they should be allowed to express their opinions through the ballot box.
The trustees compose the governing body of this institution, and they make decisions that affect students. Students have no say in hiring these trustees. Their only hope is to get the board's attention through other means - and while phone calls and letters to the editor are powerful tools, a vote is the ultimate tool in a democratic institution like Student Senate. An overwhelming vote of confidence or no-confidence would provide the senate with an actionable mandate straight from its constituents. Perhaps our cowardly representatives are afraid of what they might find.
The 12 student senators who voted for the measure should be commended for taking a stand. As for the other 22, it might be time for them to rethink their priorities. If they're looking for letters of recommendation and padding for their resumés, they should do it on their own time. If, on the other hand, they're serious about improving student welfare, they need to resurrect this resolution and let the students speak. This isn't about whether or not students should have confidence in the Board of Trustees: It's about giving them the option to express themselves either way.
This is your chance, Student Senate: Buck up. Prove you're more than a bunch of kids playing politician. You represent students, not the trustees or the provost or the president. Start acting like it.
Editorials represent the views of The Post's executive editors.
4 Opinion
Student Senate caters to administation instead of peers
