Graduate Student Senate will no longer need approval from the Board of Trustees to amend its constitution after a recent change.
The GSS constitution has not been updated since 2016. Previously, GSS would have to bring all amendments to the Board to be approved before instituting them. Othersenates on campus have made this change to their respective constitutions as well.
“The aim of the change is not to exclude the board of trustees from our work, as they will be always informed of what we do ... as we are the liaison between the graduates of Ohio University and the administration and the board of trustees,” Dareen Tadros, president of GSS, said in an email. “The aim is to reduce bureaucracy.”
Tadros said the change was made in order to maintain an updated constitution so it can accurately represent GSS and its work, but communications between the Board and GSS will not end.
“We have been participating at the board of trustees meetings and will continue to do that as it is vital to have shared governance, which Ohio University has been implementing for a long time,” Tadros said in an email.
There were no issues with the amendment process, Tadros said. She also said members of GSS were in favor of the change.
“We have shared this resolution with all of the graduate students at Ohio University as what our constitution states prior to voting on it at our body as we are a democratic body,” she said in an email. “The graduate student community has been supportive of it.”
Hayasa Tahmazyan, commissioner of national graduate student affairs, said the change will make the process of amending the GSS constitution more timely, so student needs will be more cohesively met.
“Bringing a beneficial impact on the student lives of graduate students has always been the cornerstone of the Graduate Student Senate,” Tahmazyan said in an email. “It is through the constitutional amendments that GSS ensures its activities address the needs of OHIO grad students.”
Samantha Stewart, vice president of GSS, also expressed her support for the change.
“The updating of the constitution enables GSS to take more direct legislative action on policy matters,” Samantha Stewart, vice president of Graduate Student Senate, said in an email.
Student Senate also recently made the change to its constitution to exclude the Board of Trustees from their amendment process, according to a previous Post report.
Stewart said all of the Senates on campus work closely.
“There is even a committee called the committee on committees, where we come together to have open communication and support for each other in our growth,” she said in an email.
