#OUConcealCarry referendum dominates Student Senate meeting

Ohio University’s Student Senate sprang back to work at its first meeting of the year by voting on and approving a bill to put the question of concealed carry to a referendum.The bill put to a vote whether students should have a vote in asking the OU Board of Trustees to take action regarding Ohio House Bill 48, which gives universities the option to recognize concealed-carry handguns on campus. The Senate’s bill passed unanimously.Student Senate will host two open forums at 6:30 p.m. in the Maggie Davis Room on Jan. 12 and 17, allowing the student body to ask questions regarding HB 48 and its enactment on OU’s campuses before the referendum. The vote will occur online starting Jan. 23 at 9 a.m. and close on Jan. 24 at midnight, with the results reported the following night at Student Senate by President Hannah Clouser.The results of the referendum will factor into Student Senate’s vote to decide its official stance on this issue. “It’s OK if you vote differently from the student body, as long as you have a good reason for it,” Clouser told Senate, asking the senators to work hard to spread the news of the referendum to all members of the student body.Vice President Courteney Muhl clarified how the student body’s votes would factor into the Senate’s final vote. “If the same number of students vote as there are number of votes in the Senate body, then the student body will be allotted half of the Senate body vote.”The Senate also voted to appoint Ashley Donahue to be an Off-Campus Life commissioner and Jonathon Schlosser to be a Residence Life commissioner. In her executive report, Muhl reminded the body that there are open positions on Senate that still need to be filled.Student Senate meets weekly on Wednesdays at 7:15 p.m. in Walter 235.