Student Senate ticket UNITE wants to bring Ohio University together

Student Senate ticket UNITE is hoping to bring together students and faculty of Ohio University together.“Unite was founded on the disconnect we see within the student body as a whole,” said Hannah Clouser, UNITE’s presidential candidate and the current treasurer of Student Senate. “While Student Senate has done really great things this year to rebuild our image and work from the ground up to get where we are, there is still a lot of work to be done for students to actually know who Student Senate is and what we can do for them.” UNITE said it wants to bring together students and connect them to one another.“Students are ultimately disconnected from each other,” Clouser said, “We’ve seen that a lot this year whether it’s through the sexual assault issues or through the racial climate on campus.”Courteney Muhl, who is Student Senate’s current health and science professions senator, is running for vice president, and Steve Lichtenfels, Student Senate’s senate appropriations commissions at-large senator, is running for treasurer. “We really feel that the issues we address need to be addressed in a cohesive way,” Muhl said. “What I mean by that is the concept of UNITE applies to our platform in that it addresses multiple issues of various degrees and various sizes that affect various communities.”UNITE said no issue matters less than another. “If a smaller portion of people are affected by an issue, it doesn’t lessen the severity of that issue,” Muhl said.UNITE plans to build a comprehensive platform that addresses important issues but makes light of those that are not as pressing. Additionally, UNITE said it plans on addressing campus affordability and building initiatives for sexual prevention on campus.  UNITE’s opposition is Impact, which is led by Jordan Kelley. The two tickets debated Thursday, March 17, and went head-to-head over questions pertaining to Ohio University’s future.“The goals of the two tickets are relatively similar but what we have are comprehensive plans behind those goals,” Clouser said. “We recognize if we get elected we will only have one year to accomplish those goals and we won’t have the time to get everything done if we don’t have plans behind our goals.”Clouser also pointed out that UNITE as a whole is more internal, meaning they have more people on their ticket with Student Senate experience in comparison to Impact.“When you look at the numbers, we have about 13 people on our ticket that have never been on Student Senate before and Impact has about 15,” Clouser said. “Because our ticket is more full than theirs, we bring that level of internal experience along with us.”There are 37 people on the UNITE ticket and 19 on the Impact ticket.“Another thing that sets our ticket apart is we have the ability to be conscious of the things that are necessary to make student-oriented goals happen,” Muhl said.With the election fast approaching on March 29, UNITE said it wants students to know why they should vote for their candidates.“We have tangible, achievable goals that were built with students in mind and experienced leaders that have a plan to make these goals happen,” Clouser said.Students who want to know more about UNITE can follow them on Twitter @UNITE4OU or visit their website.