Student Senate discusses campus safety and accessibility at town hall
Ohio University Student Senate hosted a town hall on Tuesday, discussing concerns voiced by students on campus. Executive Director of Housing and Residence Life Jneanne Hacker spoke to the Senate about how they will be addressing the issues put forward by the students in the future.
The directors of Housing and Residence Life, Facilities Management, and Safety discussed their mission statement in a presentation they gave to the Senate.
“We believe residents should have an individualized residential experience where they flourish and are challenged to be ready for life past the classroom through the Bobcat Living Experience.”
The presentation concluded by responding to students’ complaints that they received from a survey sent out at the end of the 2023 fall semester. Students who live on campus were asked to give feedback regarding their experiences on campus.
The students’ top three concerns were:
The poor quality of lighting in areas of campus, especially South Green.
The campus is difficult to navigate, and many locations are inaccessible and not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
The extreme difficulty of the housing process is extremely difficult, especially when it comes to room selection, roommates, maintenance, and cleanliness.
Leaders of Housing and Facilities answered each question individually. Addressing the first concern about the lack of quality lighting on campus and then going into more detail about the upcoming features on South Green. The newest addition of Paw Print Park, along with the future building additions, were the directors’ solutions to the lighting issues.
The construction of the hammock park was intended to create a large, lit area behind the buildings and to encourage more students to build communities on South Green. With this, there was a discussion of new additions to the dorms on South Green, including glass connectors between Pickering, Brown, and Mackinnon Hall. Chris Owens, the director for Housing Capital and Facilities Planning, explained in further detail the future building plans coming in 2026.
The second concern that was discussed with the directors was the lack of accessibility on campus for students with physical disabilities. The plans to alleviate this issue included adding more ADA-accessible dorms and eliminating stairs around campus. The construction plans for South Green incorporated these plans as well.
Along with the building connectors, a courtyard will be added for students to gather in, and the stairs will be removed to instead add four-foot slopes for a gradual lift. Additionally, there will be a floor designated for restrooms, living room areas called "pods," and ADA-accessible restrooms with showers.
The last issue brought up by students was the housing process and the challenges involved. Most students here on campus argue that picking on-campus housing for the next school year is too complex or unfair. Hacker addressed the complaint by sharing her personal experiences with housing here at Ohio U when she was a student.
Hacker explained that when her housing pick date came around, she needed to go directly to the building she wanted to be registered at and wait in line. Furthermore, the lines were often hundreds of students long and wrapped around buildings for hours on end. The students waiting in line often had to skip classes, disrupt an entire day just to get to the door, and potentially find out there were no more rooms left for them.
Comparing the past to the present, Hacker stated that the model we use now for housing selection is the best that Housing and Residence Life can do to effectively meet the majority of students’ needs, but that they are always looking for feedback to make on-campus housing the best it can be.