We are writing this letter to express our disdain for the editorial of June 2 (Student What?) regarding the Ohio University Student Senate. We feel that The Post's editorial board conducted woefully inadequate research regarding the legislative history of the 2004-2005 Student Senate. The editorial states that the Student Senate has spent more time on resolutions concerning state and national legislation as opposed to addressing relevant issues affecting students. We are writing to expose this as an outright fabrication.
After researching the legislative history of the current Senate administration, students would find out that throughout the current academic year, the Student Senate has passed twenty-six resolutions concerning issues affecting the daily lives of students at this university. The resolutions address issues such as the state of Tier III classes, academic advising, general education requirements, community service issues, campus safety and student health and local government initiatives. By contrast, the Senate has only passed eight resolutions referring to state and national issues.
We feel that every one of these issues was relevant to student life here at Ohio University. We are sorry that The Post does not feel that reductions in Pell Grant aid is a relevant issue for Senate to address, however, these reductions will have a great effect on the financial aid for our student body. As a result of our research, we discovered that approximately 3500 students in our school will have their aid reduced or eliminated in the next school year. Senate's State and Federal Affairs Commission deals specifically with state and national issues and we find it insulting that The Post would belittle their efforts to better inform the students of changes in educational policy on a national level.
We would also like to address the statements that the Student Senate lacks any effective power. Members of this organization meet regularly with influential and high ranking members of the Ohio University administration and faculty. If you want evidence that Student Senate initiatives hold weight with the university administration, you need look no further than our efforts to reform some of the general education requirements. The expansions of Tier III class sizes, the provision allowing capstone courses to fulfill Tier III requirements, and the posting of the tentative course schedule for future academic quarters were all enacted after Student Senate showed a concern for these issues.
In addition to establishing the Off-Campus Living office directed by Jim Hintz, the students of Ohio University will be able to become members of a new Student Renters Union beginning next year in order to have more effective collective action against unjust landlords. By contrast, The Post editorial board has released statements condemning the new university webpage design, rejecting Kathy Krendl as a candidate for provost and openly opposing the new Athens retirement community. The result: The university webpage is still in the new format, Krendl has been named the new provost and the retirement center is still moving through City Council.
Also, we would like to state in open record that the Ohio University Student Senate is not concerned with self-promotion. Our mission is to ensure students a better and more productive college experience. Although students may seem apathetic to Student Senate as a whole, our determination to make this university better for all students will neither bend nor break.
If students are graduating on time, getting better deals with their landlords and having more productive meetings with their academic advisors as a result of our efforts, we are satisfied. We do not require a hoard of people patting us on the back everyday to know that we are doing our job. Good government does not require public relations campaigns, but rather the work of the people, in this case the students, to be accomplished. We hope that in the future The Post's editorial board will recognize this.
-Dominic Barbato and Chris Downey are, respectively, Student Senator for Off-Campus Living and Student Senator for the College of Education. Send them an e-mail at db179602@ohiou.edu.
17 Archives
Letter to the Editor
