Ohio University Student Senate has a history of involvement with activist efforts on campus from resolutions opposing the Vietnam War in the late 60s to an anti-Israeli demonstration last year, but the current senate identifies as advocates rather than activists.
From a resolution opposing the Vietnam War effort to an anti-Israeli speak-outs that occurred within meetings, activism has historically played a key role in Ohio University's Student Senate.
This year, however, senate executives said the body identifies as an “advocacy” group rather than an activist group.
“When I think about activism I think about protests or sit-ins or things of that nature, and we have a lot of that on this campus and that’s one avenue to achieve change,” Gabby Bacha, senate president, said. “I would say we’re more of an advocacy group than an activist group in that we kind of use our channels within the university to try and achieve change.”
In May of 1968 the student governing body fought against a House bill they felt infringed upon a student’s right to demonstrate against college administration. The bill would have denied federal financial assistance to any student who, in the opinion of administration, “seriously disrupts the activity of the university,” according to a previous Post report.
Student body president at the time, David Stivison, campaigned on the promise to fight the bill, and worked with the National Student Association to oppose it.
Hannah Clouser, the senate’s current vice president, said acting on behalf of the students is still a goal for the student body.
“Most people would probably say that I’m not an activist, but I think that in my own kind of way, perhaps I am,” Clouser said. “I do care about students and listen to students, or at least I try to, and would always stand up for what the students want. I’ve never attended a protest, but I don’t think that disqualifies you from being an activist.”
In March 1967, student government supported a non-academic university employee strike after the administration refused to grant a demand for payroll deduction of union dues. A deduction was necessary for the employee association to become a recognized bargaining unit for its members, according to a previous Post report.
Similarly, last year’s senate body also had a mind toward unions, passing a resolution in spring in favor of unionizing the university’s resident assistants.
This year, unionizing student workers is a goal of the OU Student Union, a body whose approach to change sometimes conflicts with that of the current senate. A large portion of last year’s body was involved in the Student Union, including former senate President Megan Marzec, who dumped a bucket of fake blood on herself in a video requesting that OU divest from Israel.
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“I always envisioned it as two groups that kind of challenge each other,” Bacha said of senate and the Student Union. “I think to some extent that challenge turned into hostility and I’m hoping to tone that down a bit because it’s not really productive for either group.”
Members of the 2014-15 senate also participated in Student Union efforts to bring a list of student grievances including, tuition hikes, a lack of funding for the OU Survivor Advocacy Program, and the proposed construction of a natural gas pipeline, to an OU Board of Trustees meeting, according to previous Post reports.
This event echoed OU student government’s actions in May 1968, when the body approved a committee’s list of nearly 100 grievances. The committee attempted to give this list to former OU President Vernon R. Alden, according to a previous Post report. The night before this story ran marked the first night that week that no student demonstration or mass meetings had been held.
Senate’s current relationship with activist groups is a work in progress, according to the body’s executives.
“I don’t think it’s in the best place, to be honest, right now,” Bacha said. “I think it’s building.”
Daniel Kington, a sophomore studying English, resigned Sept. 16 from his role as Honors Tutorial College senator, along with five other senators. Student Union members hoped to have enough presence in senate to transform the body into a collective bargaining unit, but Student Union was a minority in the group this year, Kington said.
“While I think it is helpful to have different opinions in the same place collaborating when we can, I think that in order to be most effective and establish the things we wanted to accomplish, it was just best for us to look elsewhere,” said Kington, who writes a column for The Post.
Last year's senate had a higher number of activists in the traditional sense, said Ellenore Holbrook, a junior studying political science, but activist groups receive a similar amount of attention in senate as they did last year.
Whether or not senate's members this year identify as part of one of the activist groups on campus, Holbrook, who served as part of the Student Appropriations Commission spring semester last year, said she believes the body this year is attempting to improve students' experiences.
"I do believe that many people in senate are attempting to change the world for the better, just through different channels," she said in an email.
Clouser added that reaching out to their constituency, including groups like Black Lives Action Commission (previously known as NewBLAC), F--kRapeCulture and the Student Union, is a main objective for senate.
“It’s a goal of senate to reach out to every organization, and activist groups are organizations, so it’s 100 percent our goal,” Clouser said.
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After spending the summer working on a special committee with members of the Student Union, Clouser said she respects the group and now receives Facebook invitations to their protests and general assemblies, though she has yet to attend one.
“I would love to have a working relationship with the union, and I think this summer I demonstrated that,” Clouser said. “By forming that committee, all of senate kind of demonstrated ‘we do want to work with you even if we don’t have the same means of achieving goals.’”
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@mayganbeeler
