I would like to address my concerns on the blockage of a resolution stating that Student Senate disagreed with parts of Senate Bill 5, which will appear on ballots this November as Issue 2.
Though some members of the senate suggest that it is not an issue that directly affects students, this is clearly not the case. The bill affects students the same way we would be affected if our parents lost their jobs.
Just because the Ohio University student body is not directly mentioned in the wording of the bill does not mean they will not be affected. The bill negatively affects the people with whom students interact with on a daily basis. It affects the custodians who clean the residence halls, the dining-hall workers who prepare meals every day, and the professors who help students acquire the education they came to Athens to get.
And most importantly, the bill negatively affects the police officers and firefighters who help make OU one of the safest college campuses in the state.
Furthermore, the issue of whether or not to condemn these parts of the bill should not be decided by one or two people; it should be open to the entire senate for debate.
It’s evident that many students on campus consider the issue to be of utmost importance, and as a democratically elected representative body of the students, it is the moral duty of the senate to at least debate the bill.
Some say that the issue of the bill is too political for the senate to hear. But this bill is not an issue of red and blue; it’s an issue of Green and White. And that is why Student Senate absolutely must hear this resolution.
Jack Obora is a freshman who has yet to declare an area of study.
