At 12:01 a.m. Thursday, the role of six Ohio University students changed for good — or, at least, for 22 days.
The Student Senate campaign season kicks off Thursday, with two tickets facing off for the right to be the face of the student body.
A ticket comprising current senate insiders, VOICE, is being pitted against FUSS, a ticket of two senate outsiders and senate’s chief lobbying officer, in a race to April 18, when students will vote for their picks.
VOICE is a full ticket with individuals running for all senate positions, while FUSS — Fighting to Uphold Student Solidarity — is an executive-only ticket.
The VOICE ticket includes presidential candidate Nick Southall, a junior studying integrated language arts and senate’s Residence Life commissioner; vice-presidential candidate Anna Morton, a junior studying communications and an Off-Campus Life senator; and treasurer candidate Austin LaForest, a junior studying integrated social studies education and the Patton College of Education senator.
FUSS’s presidential candidate is Matt Farmer, a junior studying political science and president of the Residents Action Council. Jacob Chaffin, senate’s Chief Lobbying Officer and a senior studying education who will be at OU next year, is running for vice president, and Rebekah Rittenberg, a junior studying education who is an active member of OU’s Student Union, is running for treasurer.
“Both experience and fresh ideas are what Student Senate needs to move forward, and VOICE has both,” Southall said. “We’re elected by students to be the voice of the students.”
VOICE’s platform centers on advocating for the student voice by asking the administration for a stronger student role on advisory committees and boards. The ticket also will focus on increasing student diversity and ensuring sustainable growth as OU moves forward with its housing plan.
“We need to be pushing the envelope in terms of the amount of power students have at an institutional level,” Farmer said. “Senate is almost reactionary. It was great when they criticized the administration over salaries, but that (may) happen again. … We need to start talking about it now.”
FUSS, a less structured platform than VOICE’s, aims to understand and organize students so they can bring about change they want to see at OU.
That change, in the minds of Farmer, Chaffin and Rittenberg, starts with demanding students have a role in real decision-making processes while pushing for increased student representation on OU’s Budget Planning Council.
The members of both tickets support student trustee voting rights.
FUSS also opposes the guaranteed tuition model OU administrators have proposed, while VOICE’s executive candidates say they have yet to see data convincing them to back the idea.
The first debate between the presidential candidates will be held at 6 p.m. Monday in the Bobcat Student Lounge at Baker University Center.
“It’s a goal of the whole Board of Elections … mainly to make sure the election runs smoothly and that the candidates are expressing their opinions in a positive way,” said Emma Clark, chair of the Board of Elections. “(I want to) make sure it’s a good campaign season.”
dd195710@ohiou.edu
