Student Senate candidates participated in the first executive debate of the 2015-16 election season.
Ohio University President Roderick McDavis submitted a question to Student Senate candidates Wednesday night at a presidential debate organized by The Post.
After a year of strained interactions between OU’s student government and administrators, McDavis asked how potential senate members would handle their access to university officials in an effective and productive manner.
“We need to let them know that we’re not attacking them because when it gets down to it, they’re not necessarily the root of the problem, it’s with the Board of Trustees and at the statehouse,” said SOS vice presidential candidate Jared Ohnsman.
The debate, held in Porter 105, was moderated by The Post’s opinion editor, Xander Zellner, and included questions submitted by students on social media.
One topic repeatedly discussed was student-administrator relations, which highlighted the differences between tickets.
“It seems like administration has shied away from the current senate because they don’t feel comfortable with them,” Ohnsman said. “They don’t wake up in the morning and think ‘how can I ruin students’ today?’ ”
While some tickets agreed that repairing relationships with administrators was a priority, the BARE ticket said a productive working relationship with top OU officials might not be easy.
“I think they have a certain mindset and certain things they want to accomplish that won’t change just by being friends with them,” said BARE candidate for treasurer DJ Amireh. “Our interests as students and as faculty are different than the interests as administration.”
The Phoenix ticket cited clear communication with administrators as the solution to helping students understand campus topics and university functions, while Student Nation said it plans to meet with administrators to lobby for student trustee voting rights.
After several years of student-backed efforts, this is the first year students are able to vote for a student trustee candidate.
Questions from an audience of about 100 people were also included in the debate, including one asking for a plan to handle public relation issues, such as current Student Senate President Megan Marzec’s “ice bucket challenge” video.
Marzec made international headlines in September after she posted a video online in which she appeared to dump a bucket of blood on her head while urging the university to divest and boycott Israel.
“We are not Megan Marzec,” BARE presidential candidate and former Post columnist Ryant Taylor said as Marzec sat in attendance.
In reference to previous public relations issues, Phoenix presidential candidate Tony Piccioni said it was important to him that the 2015-16 Student Senate not be mocked.
The BARE ticket, which includes many members of OU’s Student Union, said the controversial work it’s done in senate this year is a result of initiatives they feel passionate about.
“We aren’t some hipsters in the street trying to be trendy,” said Olivia Wallace, BARE vice presidential candidate and former Post photographer. “We really believe in this or we wouldn’t spend time together doing that.”
For unknown reasons, the TIME ticket was not present at The Post’s debate.
An additional senate Board of Elections executive debate will be held Thursday at 7 p.m. in Walter 135, with a debate for student trustee candidates held at 8:30 p.m. in the same room.
Elections for senate positions and a student trustee will be held April 14 through 16.
mb06912@ohio.edu
@mayganbeeler
