Student Senate guest speaker discusses student inclusivity at the body’s Wednesday meeting

Student Senate met Wednesday to discuss student resources, the Multicultural Center at Ohio University, and voted to grant funds for the Love Yourself Weekend on Oct. 23.

[dropcap txtcolor="#234a83" style="dropcap1"]D[/dropcap]irector of the Multicultural Center Winsome Chunnu-Brayda met with Student Senate on Wednesday to discuss community outreach events and student resources on campus.Chunnu-Brayda spoke about the important role the Multicultural Center plays at Ohio University. She particularly mentioned the Black Student Cultural Programming Board, for which she is an adviser. “Empowerment through cultural awareness” is the message of her program, she said.Chunnu-Brayda emphasized the Multicultural Center’s constant push to teach Bobcats inclusivity. “Anywhere you go, we want you to be able to have a conversation with anybody and be totally at peace doing it,” she said.[AdSense-A]The Multicultural Center prepares students to be global Bobcats, she said, by addressing ways to communicate with fellow students through events and student workshops. Student Senate also voted to approve funds for the Love Yourself Weekend, an event that promotes self-esteem, confidence building, professional development, and celebrates the successes of women. The funding will go toward bringing keynote speaker Beverly Gooden to campus to discuss advocating for victims’ rights. Gooden created the viral hashtag, #WhyIStayed. Love Yourself Weekend begins Oct. 23 and continues to Oct. 26.During executive staff reports, Student Senate President Maddie Sloat spoke about an online forum established for students to submit reports about “dark areas” on campus — a concern for student safety.The forum will serve as means for students to report lighting issues on campus and it will hopefully be solution to an ongoing issue on campus, Sloat said.In other business, Student Senate appointed two senators to the Minority Affairs Commission.