Graduate student Ian Armstrong looks to take over for president Eddie Smith, whose tenure will come to an end this year.
With elections one week away, members of Ohio University's Graduate Student Senate are finalizing their search for a team of leaders to replace members of the current executive council.
“A lot of progress has been made this semester," Ian Armstrong, GSS academic affairs commissioner, said. “But it’s going to take some strong leadership to push a lot of these ideas (from candidates) forward.”
Armstrong, a graduate student in the department of chemistry and biochemistry, is one of four GSS members to announce their campaign to lead the body in the upcoming academic year. Only one ticket has been submitted for the ballot.
The Five Point Plan ticket includes the following candidates for executive positions:
- Ian Armstrong for president;
- Ken Ward, a graduate student in the department of journalism, for vice president of Legislative Affairs;
- Angela Chapman, a master’s student in the department of geography, for vice president of communication;
- Alex Burke, a master’s student in the department of environmental studies, for vice president of finance
Senators who will represent the College of Arts and Sciences, Graduate College, Russ College of Engineering and Technology, Scripps College of Communication and Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs are also on the ticket.
The campaign focuses on five core issues in the graduate student community, Armstrong said. They include transparency from OU's administration, in addition to providing an outlet for graduate students to voice concerns, improving community and university relations, creating a stronger graduate student community and improving health and safety conditions.
“Graduate students deserve a community in which they feel free to share ideas and champion causes that make their time at OU as productive and comfortable as possible,” Armstrong said in a press release. “At the same time, they deserve leaders who will advocate strongly on their behalf with the university administration ... Our Five Point Plan does these things.”
Monday’s meeting also sparked conversation surrounding the issue of health insurance for international graduate students.
Fatma Jabbari, a master's student from Tunisia, said that as an international student she has no option but to choose the university’s health insurance plan at the risk of losing her ability to select classes and maintain her student visa status.
“I can tell you that the majority of international students can basically pay the rent, utilities, health insurance and then sometimes — if we can afford it — groceries, and then that’s the end of the month for us.” Jabbari said. “Personally, I didn’t have to leave my country. It was a choice. So I don’t want to have a second thought about me choosing Ohio University.”
GSS members also passed three resolutions to amend language in sections of the GSS Constitution. One of those amendments was to change the frequency of general assembly meetings from occurring monthly to bi-weekly.
As OU's Board of Trustees is required to approve the GSS Constitution before it is officially ratified, the amendments would not be put into effect until June.
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