Student Senate passed two constitutional amendments Wednesday, which need to be approved by the student body and Board of Trustees.
Ohio University Student Senate passed two of three resolutions at Wednesday night’s meeting that require amendments to senate’s constitution.
A resolution to create a referenda system of voting and a resolution to change the current wording of the constitution to “semesters” instead of “quarters” will need to be voted on by the student body during spring senate elections and approved by the Board of Trustees before taking effect.
“It just goes to show how inefficient senate's been the past few years that no one has ever changed this, so I think that says a lot about this body, that we’re actually changing quarters to semesters,” Jared Ohnsman, senate’s vice president, said.
To more quickly enact resolutions that require a change to the constitution, senate proposed a resolution to remove the need for the Board of Trustees to approve constitutional changes. This resolution was tabled.
Another resolution proposed at Wednesday’s meeting called for two voting members to be added to the Environmental Affairs Commission. Only Logan Stark, the group’s commissioner, has voting power in general body meetings.
“I’m very passionate about my commission,” Stark said. “I believe the Environmental Affairs Commission could better serve the community, the university and even the world if we had more people on our commission.”
After lengthy debate, the resolution failed.
“Senators have to represent a particular constituency, and the environmental affairs commission does not represent a particular constituency,” Jordan Kelley, university life commissioner, said. “As we’re a body representing students and working in the best interest of students, I don’t know if it is the best move for us to give a senator title or voting rights to someone who is not representing students in any way.”
Also at Wednesday’s meeting, senate passed a resolution that may result in Alden Library’s fourth floor staying open 24 hours a day, five days a week.
“People can’t study lying all over the floor, people can’t study when there are 400 million people around you trying to find a seat,” Carolyn Miller, an at-large senator said. “If there are more librarians around then there are more resources to make studying better. Alden is so widely trafficked. Why wouldn’t you make more of the building open longer?”
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Miller said senate will send the resolution and a letter of explanation to Scott Seaman, dean of University Libraries; Robin Krivesti, facilities manager of Alden Library; and Pam Benoit, executive vice president and provost. Miller hopes the extended hours will go into effect before finals week this year.
Six other resolutions passed Wednesday, including budgets to fund senate’s Intern Ball, travel for delegates attending the Ohio Student Government Association Conference and the purchase of a second white noise machine for Students Defending Students.
Internally focused resolutions to create a position within the Committee on Conduct and Discipline, to amend senate’s attendance policy and to appoint Abbey Koehl to the Women’s Affairs Commission also passed.
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