As of Sunday night, more than 1,500 signatures have been gathered calling for the right to hold a recall election of last spring’s Ohio University Student Senate.
As of Sunday night, more than 1,500 signatures have been gathered calling for the right to hold a recall election of last spring’s Ohio University Student Senate.
Those circulating petitions to gather the signatures are aiming for 3,000 signatures from students by this Thursday’s OU Board of Trustees meeting.
But students must vote on the proposed amendment before it goes to the board for approval, meaning a vote on whether to have a recall could be months from now.
Senate LBGTQA Affairs Senator Taylor Hufford, who was involved with drafting and organizing the petition, said the growth of the signature count can be attributed to its circulation throughout several OU fraternities and sororities over the weekend.
The current senate constitution states that OU students can propose amendments if at least 10 percent of students currently enrolled in the Athens Campus sign the petition.
If this petition — using the Twitter hashtag #RecallSSE — gathers the required signatures, it will be presented at the next board meeting.
If the signatures are certified by OU’s Office of Community Standards and Student Responsibility, senate’s constitution mandates students must vote on the proposed amendment. Then, if students vote for the amendment, the board will vote on whether to add the amendment to senate’s constitution.
Senate’s constitution says the vote must happen “by the end of the following quarter,” not reflecting OU’s change from quarters-to-semesters.
On Sunday evening, Peter Mather, secretary to the board, said he has “not received any direct communication from the students circulating the petition.”
There are 10 petitions currently circulating throughout campus, each aiming to garner 300 signatures.
Several campus groups are distributing the petition, including the OU College Republicans, Bobcats for Israel and the Jewish fraternity, Alpha Epsilon Pi.
Some of the students circulating the petition include some of those who were arrested at a senate meeting last month while speaking out of turn. They were charged with, and pled not guilty to, disrupting a lawful meeting.
An additional petition is attached to the one calling for the recall election that references disapproval of Senate President Megan Marzec’s “blood bucket” challenge video. This petition does not call for Marzec’s resignation, but rather aims to gather support for the proposed amendment.
Correction: This article previously identified Taylor Hufford as senate's LGBTQA commissioner. She is the LGBTQA senator.
@Alisa_Warren
aw120713@ohio.edu
