This is a copy of the resignation speech of Carter Phillips at last night’s Student Senate meeting.
I’m going on my fourth year as a member of the Student Senate, and during my time on this body I’ve met the greatest of friends, the wisest of mentors and the most inspiring of students. As I’m sure is the case for many of you here today, I still remember attending my first senate meeting. Excitement overtook me as senate’s past members proved to me that I could make a lasting, positive contribution for students at this university. But as many of you know, that excitement fades, and it becomes a sense of duty. Many others and I have poured countless hours into performing our duties, and we have strived to provide nothing but the best for our classmates. It is with a heavy heart I say that the environment of this organization no longer empowers me to properly fulfill my duties as a student representative.
Every year has its headlines and its scandals. I’ve stood alongside senate through all of them. We are students, and students are bound to stumble. However, in the past few months, this body hasn’t just stumbled; it has managed to irredeemably fall. As an organization, senate used to function with efficiency and was more concerned with its actions than its speeches. Today, this body has no organization, no communication and no respect for its members. With respect to our university’s administration, we were an organization that was more concerned with compromise and achievement than we were with dogma and victory. We didn’t hold the childish belief that matters should go exactly as we dictate. We believed that compromise is a lesser evil than ineffectiveness. It was more important to us that we walk away from the table with something more than our ideology. Unfortunately, this is no longer the case, and we have accordingly lost all credibility and influence with the decision-makers at this university. But most importantly, this used to be a body that gave the utmost importance to the opinions of its constituents. When President Triplett was being berated by many of you in this room for Senate Bill 5, he and the 2011-2012 Student Senate listened in respectful silence until 9:30 p.m. and then began their official business. When President George and his team were being lectured about the horrors of guaranteed tuition, the 2012-2013 Student Senate listened in respectful silence. And last year, when President Southall’s character was being attacked by some of us in this room, his senate listened in respectful silence. Now, it becomes our turn to listen to our constituency, and what do we do? We disrupt them when they’re speaking, we chant when they sit down, and we have them arrested for speaking out! All legitimacy we had as the student government of this university went out of the door in handcuffs last Wednesday. This is no longer a government; it is a circus, and it breaks my heart to see an organization that has the ability to help every student on this campus destroy itself.
I like to think the senate will redeem itself, if not this year then next. For those of you who will remain a part of this organization next year, I have a few things I want you to remember. They are the principles that we as an organization have never abandoned. First, we encourage debate and dissent. The worst fate for senate is to become an echo chamber for its leaders and shut out anyone who disagrees. Second, we never let our opinions supersede those of our constituents. We may think we know best, but our constituents always know better. If you don’t hold that belief, then you don’t deserve to be in this room today. Third, cooperation is the most powerful tool in our toolkit. There are some among us who believe that administrators are only out to raise their salaries as high as possible without regard to students – in my experience this has not been the case. I want you to remember that administrators cared enough about higher education to dedicate their lives to furthering it, and you should at least give them the benefit of the doubt before vowing never to work with them. And lastly, we have always shown that when we give respect, we get respect in return, and when we don’t give respect, this organization devolves into chaos.
I am honored to have been given the opportunity to serve as the Treasurer of Ohio University’s Student Senate and will cherish my time on this body forever. Unfortunately, this is no longer a Student Senate I feel dignified serving. I am therefore standing before you this evening to tender my resignation as Treasurer, effective immediately.
