Student Senate starts to rebuild with new appointments and revising constitution

Ohio University’s Student Senate passed a resolution to appoint a new member to the Judicial Panel, discussed a resolution to update governing documents and hosted a presentation from Counseling and Psychological Services (CPS) at its Wednesday general body meeting. 

In light of the numerous resignations of members of the Judicial Panel, Student Senate has been accepting applications to the panel to reach quorum. A resolution passed unanimously in favor of appointing Emily Zeiler to the Judicial Panel to serve as a non-voting member. This resolution ensures that the relationship between the body and the Judical Panel will continue to stay healthy as Graduate Advisor Padilla, who interviewed Zeiler, feels Zeiler is ready for the task at hand and is excited to work with her.

The resolution concerned with updating the Senate’s Constitution was tabled for further consultation. Multiple Senate members met to update the constitution in order to edit the governing document at Student Senate’s March 2 Town Hall meeting. The idea was to make the constitution clearer and more concise for any student to read. 

Members met for several hours editing simple grammar issues but also sentences without proper word usage. Student Senate feels the newly improved constitution better represents the organization in a professional manner, however, the amendments must be approved first before its passing.

A resolution passed in favor of LEEDCo’s project: Icebreaker Wind which would build a windmill farm on Lake Erie. Environmental Affairs Commissioner Luke Beccasio talked about the importance of the project and how it is among the first of its kind. Beccasio said, “These kinds of farms are necessary to fight climate change as well as shift from coal power to wind power.” 

In other Senate business, the meeting began with a short presentation on the current services provided by Counseling and Psychological Services. Counseling is open to students Sunday through Friday. Several different informative workshops and resources for therapy are available on the revamped website. On demand anxiety and depression systems are also available to students when signing in with a student ID. 

CPS prided itself on coordinating care with other organizations across campus. 

“If a student needed to learn healthier habits in either sleep or exercise we can refer them to Well-being and Recreation,” said David Lairemore, CPS Outreach Coordinator.

A resource on CPS’s website, mentioned in the presentation, is the crisis hotline which is (740) 593-1616. Designed for scenarios where a student or friend of a student is not in imminent danger, someone can call at any time thanks to the 24 hour availability of the counselors on campus. 

Emily Zeiler is the former digital managing editor at The New Political.