Full disclosure: I’m a third-year student (according to my DARS, I’m a senior … wow) and a former candidate for West Green Senator for Student Senate (from the 2010 race). With the race for senate in full swing as our candidates table and canvas like nobody’s business, I feel it’s time I weigh in with my feelings on the matter.
I think that everyone on the ticket is way too idealistic for his or her own good and for the good of senate. Here is why: Student Senate is a puppet government given to us by the university administration as a showcase of the power they allow us to believe we have.
Look at the bills and resolutions that go through Student Senate: They’re suggestions! Legislation like 2009’s “Resolution to Recognize Halloween” (the title is paraphrased, but the resolution is legit; go check if you don’t believe me) or the resolution this past February that only suggested City Hall and Ohio University do something about Bobcat Lane.
So, what in the name of everything that is good and just in this world makes those parties think they have the power to do what they say they are going to do?
REACH, the party that will win most, if not all, of the positions (sorry yOU, but with the sitting senate’s financial and verbal backing, you never really had a chance) is hilariously going to mandate “mid-semester professor evaluations” and compile an online database of syllabi which are subject to frequent change, both of which are powers of the Faculty Senate, NOT the Student Senate.
Their platform on sustainability is laughable at best. They plan to switch Morton Hall and Copeland Hall to energy-saving motion-sensor lighting, which would cost more than they have to spend in three years and is a power that belongs to our Board of Trustees. Their implementations of outlet switches in Boyd Hall and other renovated dorms is going to cost so much more up front than it would be worth to spend on them, and their payoff won’t come for another five years.
Look to their platform: It’s way too idealistic for their own good. yOU’s platform is basically invisible (Where do I find it?) and I’m not even too sure that Jared has a platform (no offense, Jared).
Let’s look at REACH’s top three, which consists of a former opponent, a high school friend of mine and Amrit Saini. Zach George ran against me for West Green Senator in 2010. He did not show up for the candidate’s debate that was coordinated by the sitting senate and Mary Kate Gallagher. When I went to Boyd Hall’s council meeting to express my platform, they told me that I had their full support; one of their most-absent members was none other than Zach George.
Never once did I see that man on West Green and I have yet to see him campaign this year. Do I trust that man to run the student government? Not with my life.
And Evan Ecos for treasurer? Let me explain: Evan Ecos has had big dreams for most of his life. The Evan I knew in high school wouldn’t have settled for treasurer. This Evan sold out. No doubt he will be a great treasurer for senate, but something tells me that this is not the position that he wants. I would trust REACH if Evan was their leader because I believe Evan would make seven times the leader that Zach George will be. Evan was out just as often as I was two years ago on the campaign trail. He knew East Green better than anyone I knew. He was out trying to garner votes when he could’ve been working on homework, and I have seen him give the same commitment to this campaign. Why am I not voting for my friend? He’s running unopposed.
I look at the history of Student Senate and I look to what power they actually have versus the power that they say they have, and I only come to the conclusion that the best vote on Thursday is no vote at all.
Because, at some point, students and senators alike need to realize something: We, the regular students, have more power than they do. Look to what student organizations have done at this school. Bobcats for a Conflict-Free Campus has been a vocal presence in getting our university to go conflict-free. OU Student Power organized multiple protests against the tuition hike. Did that happen because we let Student Senate assert a fake idea of power? No. That happened because regular students mobilized themselves and became active in their university community.
The power is yours, Bobcats. Don’t give it away.
Thomas Pinney is a senior studying political science.
