Student Senate met Thursday to begin discussing prevalent issues on campus and addressing action items.
This was the organization's first meeting of the school year and their second as a university organization. 29 senators were in attendance, with only one senator absent.
The Roush Board Room, where Otterbein's Board of Trustees meets three times a year, was near capacity for the meeting. According to Student Senate’s advisor, Colette Masterson, this was a good start to the year.
“Based on the senators that we currently have elected and the class schedule conflicts that we knew about, everybody was here except for one, so this was a great turnout,” Masterson stated.
Masterson said that her role as advisor is not as active as what one may think. “They [the senators] manage a majority of all of the activities themselves. I do things in the background. I help them do what they need to do so that they can focus on the work of student government and not worry about the more ‘tasky’ things.”
The meeting proceeded according to many of the procedures followed in university senate. Senators followed the practice of stating their name before speaking. As the meeting progressed, brief moments of informality worked their way into the meeting.
“I think it’s important to follow parliamentary procedure because we are setting a precedent, but also recognize that we are colleagues and friends, and that having fun in certain contexts is fine, but when we need to get things done, we need to get things done,” Carrie Coisman, president of Student Senate, said.
One of the main topics of debate during Student Senate’s constructive dialogue was parking on campus. Senator Delaney Galbraith introduced this to the Senate, stating that due to the growth in students, parking is harder to find for commuters.
Vice president Connor Dunn commented on this, stating that Otterbein students can park in the lot across the Communications building, and that not many students, especially first-years, know about utilizing this lot.
“Since we had such a long conversation about it tonight, it’s something they [Campus Services and Regulations Committee] will be picking up in their next meeting in the following weeks, and as we progress in at-large meetings throughout the term, they will be giving us reports about the status of that situation,” Coisman stated.
Other issues raised by student senators included problems with residents being denied housing due to no space in the dorms, confusion in the Otterden and a recall on eggs. These issues were discussed but no decisive action was taken in this meeting.
Student Senate’s inauguration, held in April of this year, started simple. “Just setting some of our ground rules, letting people know about how we don’t want a lot of technology, like people texting or anything like that, and went over the attendance policy,” Coisman said
Student Senate hopes to gain new members this year, with ten at-large positions available to hopeful candidates. Otterbein student government meetings will take place this semester on Aug 27, Sep 10, Oct 22, Nov 5 and Dec 3.
