Ohio University's Student Senate Board of Elections held an at-large candidate forum Monday, about one week before elections.
With Ohio University Student Senate elections about a week away, at-large senator candidates took positions on campus safety, college affordability and other topics during a forum Monday night.
Candidates for the at-large senator positions will represent the student body on subjects ranging from sorority and fraternity life and athletic affairs to parking or lighting issues on campus. At the forum, each at-large candidate answered five questions posed by senate’s Board of Elections that related to some of these issues.
“It seems like the overall theme for answers was inclusivity,” Ashley Fishwick, a Board of Elections member, said.
Impact candidates Keyarah Newton and Marcus Cole said inclusivity is one of the most important characteristics that OU’s next president should possess.
“I think what the university should look for in a president is someone who is inclusive and cares about the Bobcat community as a whole,” Newton said.
The UNITE ticket also shared ideas about qualities the university should seek in a candidate to fill OU President Roderick McDavis’ position when he steps down in June 2017.
“We need someone who’s going to learn from their mistakes,” Carolyn Miller, an at-large candidate on the UNITE ticket, said. “The current president got a vote of no confidence, a year passed, and he got another vote of no confidence. Nothing changed. The person has to reach out to the campus. The person has to reach out to the students. The person has to reach out to the faculty and be able to bring all those groups together.”
Campus safety, including the effectiveness of OU's blue light emergency phones, was also a theme at Monday's forum.
“I don’t think that we need more blue lights to increase safety. I think that we need just better lighting in certain areas of campus where sexual assault is going on,” Nicole Schneider, a UNITE candidate, said. “I have friends who are are afraid to walk to class, walk to work if it’s early in the morning. That’s something that shouldn’t happen.”
Cole, who is on the Impact ticket, is in favor of a better blue light system that would increase visibility of the phones across campus. Newton, also with Impact, said an alarm should be added to blue lights to alert those nearby when someone is in trouble.
Seven of eight total candidates — five for UNITE and two for Impact — were present at the forum. One of Impact's three candidates, Jasmyn Pearl, could not attend the event.
The fourth senate election event, the second executive debate, will take place in Walter Hall 235 on March 24 at 7 p.m. Students will be able to vote online in the senate election March 29 and 30.
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@mayganbeeler
