Student Senate’s meeting started with a solemn tone, as Graduate Student Senate president Joel Newby spoke out as representative of graduate students and the Ohio University community.
From one student leader to another, Newby openly addressed Southall, giving senate’s president the answers he wanted after GSS passed a statement Monday supporting the removal of Southall as president. “When our university is facing embarrassment, not just in the state, not just in the nation, but on the world stage, we need a leader,” Newby said.
And that leader, he said, has not been Southall.
“I’ve sat down with you multiple times,” Newby said to Southall. “I know that people in the administration of the university have sat down with you and pleaded with you to do something.” Another student shared her frustration with Southall, and the rest of the body, for the body’s lack of leadership in taking a stance against rape culture — a topic that has surfaced in senate discussion for weeks and has been addressed by conversations and panels.
“These aren’t real solutions … what we really need is comprehensive education,” said Emily Harper, a senior studying international business and marketing.
Though senate has hosted a number of internal events to address the culture of gender inequality on campus, some members feel as though the body should also be focusing on attending events run by students outside of senate.
Tyler Daniels, university life commissioner and veteran affairs delegate, proposed a pledge that would hold senate members more accountable to attending events that engage students outside of the body. “As a group, we aren’t working as efficiently or effectively as we should be,” Daniels said. Some members of the body voiced their support for the formal commitment to better serving students, including Southall.
“It reads between the lines … This would really help solidify what it means to be not only a senator or a representative on student senate, but also (a member) of senate,” Southall said. The Senate Appropriations Commission’s current budget stands at $46,250.22, while Senate’s budget is at $16,761.8.
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