Though I am just delighted by the stock photo used for the Sept. 12 article about former Ohio University Student Senate Vice President Amrit Saini’s website payment, I am less than warm about the general tone and lack of professionalism that this article, at times, displays.
First and foremost, my decision-making was at the heart of this article’s supposed point. However, not once was I contacted or even asked for comment about this article. That’s just not good journalism in my opinion.
Second, this decision was not made in the back rooms of the Student Senate office. This choice was discussed among former senate President Zach George, multiple Student Affairs personnel, OU Human Resources, OU Payroll and most importantly, SENATE members!
After we couldn’t find a contractor outside of senate for the site, we looked internally. All of Amrit’s involvement working with the site was shared openly and never out of transparency. The fact that some members claim they had no knowledge means one thing, they simple stopped listening to this particular conversation. I don’t blame them, senate is an operation that runs a mile a minute and issues can get drowned out by other pressing issues. Let me be clear: The fact some members don’t recall this discussion is no proof that it didn’t happen.
Finally, I’ll share my rationale for my decision. There was a precedent set by former senates to hire contactors, the 2011 overhaul of the site for instance. In that case we hired individuals who spent hours developing the site. It then fell to former senate Vice President Matthew Beddingfield to finish the site and complete the final touches. VP Beddingfield and his team did an amazing job on the site, but that TEAM was the difference in these two cases.
VP Saini had no team and received very little help. He was a one-man show that spent hundreds of hours perfecting what we see today. When you break down the hours he recorded and how much he got paid, it comes out to be less than minimum wage per hour worked. Moreover, Amrit’s work was done over a break and not on senate’s time!
We treated Amrit as a contractor and expected him to also preform his VP duties as required. He completed both with professionalism. Based on precedent, price and general approval of commissioners, executives and university staff, I gave the OK to pay Saini for his work. I acted within my constitutional authority and broke NO rules of any kind in fulfilling my duties. If I had to do it over again, I would. It was the right call based on the reaction and reception we got to the updated senate site. It has allowed students to interact with their government in many new and awesome ways. I applaud the investigative reporting done by The Post, but ask them to represent the whole story and not just a sensational angle. I wish this year’s Post and Student Senate the BEST OF LUCK! Thanks for your time.
Evan Ecos studied communication and was former 2012-13 school year treasurer of Student Senate.
