Ian Armstrong has officially succeeded Eddie Smith as president of Graduate Student Senate.
During its final meeting of the academic year Monday, Ohio University Graduate Student Senate breezed through its final items of the semester, passing several resolutions before ultimately appointing new senators and members of its executive council.
“It was an amazing journey,” former Vice President of Finance and Administration Liudmila Pestun said in her closing remarks. “I joined GSS as soon as I arrived in Athens … and I never considered it a mistake. I hope I managed to do something to make this body a tiny bit better functioning and a tiny bit more committed body on campus.”
As Ian Armstrong, who previously served as GSS academic affairs commissioner, took to the center of the room for the first time as president, he turned first to his fellow executive council members and thanked them for their support in his run.
“I believe this is a great team that we’re going to have next year,” Armstrong said. “Each one of these people up here is very dedicated to doing things that are positive and that support graduate students."
Before turning the attention to new business, GSS ratified three amendments to its constitution, all of which were revisions in the wording of the constitution's current text.
The body passed six new resolutions, among them a resolution to place a time cap on future meetings, two similar resolutions to fund the upcoming Grad Fest and another resolution to allocate funds from the body's budget.
Newly-appointed Vice President of Finance Alex Burke and College of Arts and Sciences Senator Kevin Pomorski also endorsed a resolution to create a “Graduate Student Senate Food Market” in the coming year, which passed at the meeting. Senate plans to open a resale produce market, which will operate before future meetings.
Burke and Pomorski hope the initiative will not only increase interest and participation in GSS, but also provide fresh, affordable produce for graduate students.
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The body also voted to express its support for a proposed sustainability fee, an optional $5 per semester charge to students’ accounts, presented to the group at the beginning of the meeting. If all students were to pay the fee, it is estimated to collect nearly $292,000 per year, which would be used to support environmentally-sustainable projects, such as a bike-sharing system, campus gardens, and a residence hall compost system.
Before handing over the gavel to his successor, now-former GSS President Eddie Smith reflected upon his time in office and expressed his faith in the future of the organization.
“Starting this three years ago, I joined an organization that most grad students hadn’t heard about, didn’t know what the purpose was and really didn’t know what a lot of the issues were,” Smith said. “I’ve definitely enjoyed being a part of this, and I’m also really excited about where the future for Graduate Student Senate is going. I think we’ve got a really great team going into next year.”
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