Ohio University Student Senate hosted two presentations given by Vice President for Student Affairs Ryan Lombardi and Jenny Hall-Jones, interim dean of students, at their last general body meeting of the year.
Hall-Jones and Joe Weykamp, Senate’s governmental affairs intern, kicked off the meeting with discussion regarding OU’s contract with AlcoholEdu. Being the last year for AlcoholEdu, Hall-Jones and Weykamp have looked into an alternate program called Alcohol-Wise.
According to Hall-Jones and Weykamp, AlcoholEdu is more customizable to the university, requires you to listen to all the videos and was helpful in having a follow-up portion after incoming freshman have been at the university for several months. However, she said it is expensive and very lengthy.
On the other hand, Alcohol-Wise has periodic quizzes throughout without a quiz at the end of each section, and allows students to skip over certain videos. Unlike AlcoholEdu, Alcohol-Wise does not have a follow-up and is not as customizable to the university.
“There are pros and cons to each program and we wanted to bring them to this body and discuss them and get your feedback,” Hall-Jones said.
Another important presentation brought to Senate was an updated plan for student health insurance.
“I’m going to be honest,” Lombardi said. “The news isn’t particularly good. The good news is, most students have outside health insurance and this is not a required program.”
With the updated plan, premiums have gone up approximately 5 percent. This is about a $185 increase since last year on student coverage alone.
Student Senate was also visited by alumnus Mark Deaton.
Deaton, former Senate president from 1982 to 1983, talked about his experiences as a Senator and the possibility of creating a Student Senate Alumni Society.
“My old friends from Senate and myself toyed around with the idea for a long time. And we’re officially ready to put a plan in action,” Deaton said.
Deaton’s plan is to have a forum that gets together a couple times a year in hopes of helping Student Senate anyway it can, through fundraisers and other social events.
Additionally, Deaton said he wants the current Senate members to know they have a network of alumni and friends in the real world they can look to for job advice.
With his parting words, Deaton reminded the graduating Senate members “to keep in touch with one another.”
Following presentations, Senate passed a resolution in support of the university making unofficial transcripts available to current students.
Amrit Saini, vice president of Senate, also commented on fact that members of Senate traveled to Columbus to discuss student trustee voting rights.
“We had an incredible day in Columbus today. What we did, we did it right. We have a plan and we’re ready to act on it,” he said.
In closing, treasurer Evan Ecos addressed the body and seniors by encouraging them to do everything they want in their final week at OU.
“This is it. How are you going to end your year? We have one week, Senate. Make it count,” Ecos said.
jb351009@ohiou.edu
