Student Senate adopts resolution calling for renaming of Roger E. Ailes Newsroom

Student Senate passed a resolution Wednesday night calling for the intentional renaming of the former Roger E. Ailes Newsroom. The resolution also called for further dialogue and education about power-based personal violence in the workplace.Senate noted the importance of documenting the newsroom’s former name on the record to ensure the intention of removing Ailes’ name not be forgotten.“The fact that there was no real debate or contention with any of the things the committee brought forward really just signifies to me that the senate body is so unified,” said Courteney Muhl, vice president and primary sponsor of the resolution. “We want to make sure this situation is not just erased from history, that we continue to advocate for survivors, on campus and everywhere.”Resolution 1617-11 was drafted before Ailes’ name was removed from WOUB’s newsroom, but senators wanted to stress formally the importance of passing such a resolution, as it serves as a token of their commitment to addressing sexual harassment and assault on campus.“We are here to hear the disappointment of the students and make a stance on it and then tell the university administration to act on it, and they did,” said Landen Lama, chief of staff. “That’s a big win for student government everywhere in getting the administration to listen to us and affect real change.”The resolution also called for Senate to create a special committee to further discuss and explore ways to support survivors on campus and to further advertise across campus the current resources available to survivors, such as the Survivor Advocacy Program.Senate postponed resolution 1617-12 indefinitely, as it called Senate to endorse the now-cancelled march and rally organized by International Socialist Organization members who demanded Ohio University change the name of the newsroom and cut ties with Ailes. Senate President Hannah Clouser argued that while it was no longer a planned event, it was still important to hear the resolution brought about by a student organization.Resolution 1617-13 created the Senate Judicial Panel, which will oversee rules, procedures, conduct, discipline and elections within Senate. The panel will be staffed by seven justices and one executive justice, as well as a clerk of courts.Two resolutions dealing with the budget were also passed.Resolution 1617-15 appointed funds of $150 to each of Senate’s 12 commissions for a total of $1,800. Resolution 1617-16 paid $980.50 for renting Ping Recreation Center for the first Senate Retreat.Passing resolutions was not all that Senate did this week, though.Dean of Students Jenny Hall-Jones spoke on behalf of her new initiative, Golf Cart Karaoke, with which she hopes to engage with students on campus while driving them around and singing.Hall-Jones said she was inspired by the carpool karaoke on CBS’s Late Late Show with James Corden.“I came across it on Facebook, and I think it was the Adele one, and then the Obama one, and they were so funny,” Hall-Jones said. “This is just so fun and I thought to myself, ‘I can do this on campus.’”Hall-Jones said students will have to check her Twitter to see when and where the next Golf Cart Karaoke will take place.