OUPD had not decided as of press time whether officers will be present at the meeting or what security measures they might take.
The Restart ticket ran on the promise of giving all students at Ohio University a voice in campus’ governance. But at the past two Student Senate meetings this year, some students were not given the same opportunity to speak as past senates have allowed them.
The body, made up by two-thirds of Restart ticket members voted to move Student SpeakOUt to the end of last Wednesday’s meeting. It has typically been at the meeting’s beginning.
There is nothing in senate’s rules and procedures that specifies when Student SpeakOUt is supposed to be.
The entire speakout portion of the meeting was also limited to 20 minutes last week. Each student was only given three minutes to speak, although time was added multiple times to allow for students to speak longer than the allotted three minutes.
Traditionally, senate has allowed each student 20 minutes to speak and never stopped any student from speaking, allowing Student SpeakOUt to last for an hour or more in past, controversial meetings.
Carter Phillips, senate’s former treasurer who ran on the ONE ticket last spring, resigned during last week’s meeting. He mentioned past Student SpeakOUt sessions in his resignation speech.
“When President Triplett was being berated by many of you in this room for Senate Bill 5, he and the 2011-2012 Student Senate listened in respectful silence until 9:30 p.m. and then began their official business,” Phillips said. “When President George and his team were being lectured about the horrors of guaranteed tuition, the 2012-2013 Student Senate listened in respectful silence. And last year, when President Southall’s character was being attacked by some of us in this room, his senate listened in respectful silence.”
Phillips went on to say when students filled the Sept. 10 senate meeting to express their outrage with senate President Megan Marzec’s “blood bucket” challenge, the current senate body did not respect students the way past senates have.
“We disrupt them when they’re speaking, we chant when they sit down and we have them arrested for speaking out,” he said last week. “All legitimacy we had as the student government of this university went out of the door in handcuffs last Wednesday. This is no longer a government; it is a circus.”
Marzec contended that those students who were arrested were attempting to filibuster the meeting, by speaking before their turn.
After last week’s meeting, senate’s Vice President Caitlyn McDaniel said her and Marzec were concerned about limiting Student SpeakOUt but wanted to make sure the resolutions they had up for a vote were discussed with the body.
“This week we really needed to get our shit done, for lack of a better (word),” McDaniel said.
At Wednesday’s meeting, SpeakOUt will return to the beginning of the meeting.
The body has made progress in making the processes of senate more democratic.
At the Sept. 10 meeting, the body adopted a resolution allowing appointed members of the body the ability to sponsor resolutions, which in the past was limited to just elected members.
At last Wednesday’s meeting, all students were given the ability to sponsor a resolution.
The first pillar of the Restart ticket platform was to “open voting membership to all students who want to participate directly in student government decision-making,” according to the ticket’s website, which is still active as ourestart.com.
After the Sept. 10 meeting saw four students arrested for “disrupting a lawful meeting,” the Ohio University Police Department decided to monitor the meeting, which included checking bags, limiting the number of people allowed in the room to 150 and roping off the center part of the senate floor so attendees couldn’t get close to the executive officers.
Marzec requested the barriers be removed, but her request was denied.
OUPD had not decided as of press time whether officers will be present at Wednesday’s meeting or what security measures they might take.
@MariaDeVito13
md781510@ohio.edu
