Student trustees update Student Senate on divesting properties, enrollment
Ohio University Student Trustees Ellen Gill-Franks and Sarah Ladipo gave a presentation to the Ohio U Student Senate regarding divesting properties, Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) and enrollment trends Wednesday evening.
Gill-Franks and Lapido presented a list of properties the university is attempting to divest. One of those properties was The Ridges.
Gill-Franks said they met with ERM representatives to “discuss university trends.”
A ERM project update has been presented to the President’s Council as well as the Board of Trustees.
By the winter of 2022, the representatives want to “refine and finalize a risk management and risk mitigation plan,” adding they are currently “in the process of identifying those factors and thinking of possible solutions,” according to Gill-Franks.
According to Gill-Franks and Ladipo’s presentation, the current freshman class on the Athens campus is 17% larger than the 2020 class, and the Athens campus total enrollment is projected to grow 4% going into 2022.
Gill-Franks and Ladipo said the enrollment priorities for the fiscal year of 2022 is to optimize scholarships and aid, as well as supporting the Ohio Honors Program.
In other news:
Governmental Affairs Commissioner Molly Pennington announced a town hall for Democratic at-large City Council candidates will be held Oct. 26.
A town hall was previously held, with independent candidates Damon Krane and Iris Virjee being the only two out of five candidates present. Democrats Sarah Grace, Micah McCarey and Ben Ziff are also running.
LGBTQIA+ Affairs Commissioner Luvina Cooley announced two upcoming events: a student town hall Oct. 28 and a queer resource social Nov. 4.
Cooley said the town hall, which will be held at Bentley Hall on Oct. 28 from 5-6 pm, will focus on LGBTQ issues. President Sherman will be present.
The queer resource social would include resources such as the LGBT Center and Student Senate, and aims to help make sure students are aware of these groups and wanting to make sure students are “able to have these connections” and join these groups if they want, according to Cooley.
Student Senate also discussed purchasing a new computer from Bobcat Depot for the Senate’s Chief of Staff Celine Freetage. Any other member of the senate would be allowed to use the computer.
Treasurer Simar Kalkat said the new computer would cost 5% of the entire budget for Senate. The resolution to purchase a new computer was tabled.
“Right now, I am very uncomfortable spending 5% of our entire Senate budget on a singular computer. I would like to explore the other options at Bobcat Depot because obviously our computers don’t work,” Kalkat said, emphasizing it would cost $1,600 of student tuition dollars.
