Student Senate impeaches member, hears from guest speakers

Athens Mayor Steve Patterson attended Student Senate’s general body meeting Wednesday evening to discuss successes and challenges the city has faced over the past year. Screenshot by Audri Wilde.

Student Senate’s Judicial Panel impeached Senate member Richard Danylo on Wednesday for violating rules and procedures. 

Specifics of the impeachment were discussed during an executive session and were not publicly disclosed at the time of this article’s publication. Danylo will have the opportunity to appeal the articles of impeachment delivered to the Senate at the next general body meeting.

Psychologist David Lairmore with Counseling and Psychological Services (CPS) attended the meeting to discuss a new outreach service for students at Ohio U, called Togetherall. 

According to Lairmore, Togetherall is a 24/7, online, peer-to-peer mental health community. Students are given free access to this service through their student emails, but Togetherall users are kept anonymous. 

With Togetherall, students have access to a global community of users who can share how they are feeling and support one another. Chats are clinically managed and monitored with trained professionals to ensure that all users have a chance to express themselves, Lairmore said. 

Togetherall also provides creative tools to help students express how they are feeling and a wide range of self-guided courses and articles to give students a better understanding of the issues they may face and learn skills to help improve their wellbeing, according to Lairmore. 

“There’s a lot of isolation feelings going on, especially now in this virtual environment, and the ability to share what’s going on inside and potentially connect with other users who are going through similar struggles, I think creates a sense of bondedness,” Lairmore said.

Those interested in Togetherall can visit togetherall.com and register with their student email.

Athens Mayor Steve Patterson also attended the meeting to present his State of the City Address to the Senate, highlighting the challenges and successes the city of Athens faced during the past year.

In 2020, the city was the recipient of about $1.5 million in CARES Act funding, which was used to create a housing and rent assistance program and a utility relief program for those impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Following the death of George Floyd, Athens City Council came forward with a resolution declaring racism a public health crisis. In addition to the resolution, Patterson said that the city has recently partnered with the Racial Equity Coalition to look at city code and policies and overcome areas where systemic racism may be present.

Additionally, he said Athens completed a number of infrastructure projects and began others. Most notably, Patterson pointed out what he called the “$7 million big win” — the construction of the Richland Avenue pedestrian passageway.

The city planner of Athens also released a Comprehensive Plan, which details the planning processes the city will take through 2040. More detail on the additional successes and challenges Athens faced in 2020 can be viewed in Patterson’s online presentation here.

In other business, representatives of Ohio University’s chapter of Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) discussed their entry into this year’s Bateman Case Study Competition during the student speakout portion of the meeting.

Managing Director Macy Cantrell and Data Analyst Megan Gordin shared the goals of their campaign, Cultivating Change: Planting the Seeds of Civility, with the Senate. 

Ohio U PRSSA chapter members started the campaign with the aim to equip pre-professionals at the university with tools to combat incivility in the classroom and in the workplace.

One of the core values that Ohio U holds is civility, which the campaign hopes to reinforce. 

Gordin said after conducting primary research, the team found 56% of survey respondents said they had been a victim of uncivil behavior in the workplace or classroom. Additionally, 12% of respondents felt that their classes at Ohio U prepared them to act civility in the future, and nearly 70% felt that it is important to raise awareness on civility in public discourse.

“Being civil makes students more approachable to employees and overall improves professionalism, making them more marketable,” Gordin said. “The purpose of Ohio University is to prepare students for when they enter the workforce, so we think that placing more of an emphasis on civility in the classroom and workplace would make OU a more productive learning environment for students and faculty.”