GSS closes out spring semester, announces winner of treasurer run-off

Ohio University Graduate Student Senate (GSS) announced Joseph Elikem Kofi Ziorklui as winner of the treasurer election run-off Tuesday night during their last meeting of the semester. 

At the GSS general body meeting on March 30, the election committee announced that the treasurer race would be heading to a run-off between Kofi Ziorklui and Graduate College Senator Charlotte Yang.

In a close race, Kofi Ziorklui was elected treasurer of GSS for the 2021-2022 academic year with 122 votes. Yang received 110 votes in the run-off. 

“First of all, I would like to thank the electoral committee for such a wonderful coordination of this election,” Kofi Ziorklui said. “I thank you so much for granting me the opportunity to serve this honorable house and the graduate and professional students as a whole.”

Kofi Ziorklui will join GSS President Kaelyn Ferris and newly-elected GSS Vice President Remington Burwell to make up the 2021-2022 GSS executive team.

The Senate also passed an amendment creating new regulations to increase engagement within the body through creating new mentorship programs and implementing gender-inclusive language. 

During the introduction of the amendment, some members raised concerns about language in the appendix about the new membership program being unfinalized and in conflict with current GSS rules and procedures.

Women’s Affairs Commissioner Letitia Price, the primary sponsor of the amendment, and outgoing GSS Vice President Amal Shimir, a co-sponsor of the amendment, wanted to pass the amendment into the GSS rules and procedures without the appendix in question. 

“We cannot put the mentorship program within the rules and procedures, but we thought we could include it in the appendix. So, Letitia [Price] and I are going to work on cleaning up the appendix to make it much better than it looks right now,” Shimir said.

Ferris and outgoing GSS Treasurer Amid Vahedi expressed concerns about the unfinished appendix. Both explained it is not possible to only pass certain aspects of an amendment. 

“We write a resolution, and in those appendices of the resolution, we specify what are the specific changes to the rules and procedures. When we pass that resolution, we are passing the language of the appendix, as it is, into the rules and procedures,” Ferris said. 

Outgoing Commissioner of Academic Life: Research Brett Fredericksen, a co-sponsor of the amendment, presented a solution to the issue.

“As the author of this specific statement, I consider it to be non-binding in the sense that as long as you cover the points described within the rules and procedures language above, using the guidelines. Guidelines, not rules. You’ve met all the respective criteria that the change is going to make,” Fredericksen said. 

GSS passed the amendment with the expectation that, if needed, the amendment would be updated in the future. The amendment was the first change to the GSS rules and procedures this year.

In other business:

• GSS inducted new and returning members for the 2021-2022 academic year during the meeting.

• GSS passed an amendment renewing the terms of current GSS members who elected to serve another term.