The votes will soon be in and we’ll have a new Student Senate. But where does Senate go from there? How can the new senators seek to more effectively represent Ohio University’s students? The answer lies in being more assertive. No one can legitimately argue that this year’s Senate, under the leadership of Tim Vonville, has ignored student concerns. The real problem this year has been that Vonville and the other senators have not been assertive enough in voicing student concerns and continuing to make an argument on behalf of students even after administrators have made unpopular decisions.

Take, for example, the Board of Trustees’ decision to limit constituent input in annual presidential evaluations. Not only was Senate not assertive enough prior to this decision being made, but senators nearly went silent after the decision was made — as if by magic students were no longer concerned with the decision. The new Student Senate needs to take up this issue again, and it needs a resolution with some teeth that will make the Board of Trustees stand up and recognize that students have a problem with an annual evaluation process that essentially allows President Roderick McDavis to evaluate his own performance.

Another primary issue for Student Senate should be the composition of the Board of Trustees. Why is it that students, faculty and staff have no real representation on the board? Yes, students are given two non-voting positions. We have seen, however, that these non-voting positions have done very little to pressure the board into listening to student concerns. While the hard work of our student trustees has been admirable, they have been deprived of a voice by being deprived of a vote on the board. The situation is even worse for faculty and staff, who have absolutely no representation on the board. The next Student Senate needs to work toward full voting representation on the Board of Trustees for OU’s most important constituencies.

The next Student Senate also needs to be much more assertive in regard to shared governance. While the McDavis administration has paid a lot of lip service to the concept of shared governance, the reality of the situation is that power is concentrated in the administration’s hands and that constituent groups have very little input in the governance of this university. Recall, for example, that students, faculty and staff were united in their opposition to the cutting of union maintenance and custodial jobs that occurred last summer. Despite protests and other activities in which all three constituent groups participated, their concerns went unheeded by the McDavis administration. The next Student Senate needs to make it clear to the administration that ignoring constituent concerns is no longer an acceptable alternative.

Finally, the next Student Senate needs to communicate better with students. Students Speak Out is a good tool for hearing student concerns, but the fact is that many students have class during the time scheduled for Senate meetings. Other students either don’t know that they can go to Senate meetings and voice their concerns or are unwilling to do so. As the primary group responsible for representing students, Student Senate should be much more concerned with hearing student input. Student Senate needs to develop new and innovative ways for students to communicate their concerns, so that Senate will be able to more effectively represent students.

A new Student Senate means a new opportunity to more effectively represent students and their concerns. Many looked forward to this opportunity for better representation when the TOGA party took over Senate last year, but many of those same students have found themselves disappointed in Senate’s performance this year. In order for the next Student Senate to avoid similarly disappointing its constituents, it’s going to have to be much more assertive in voicing student concerns and it’s going to have to communicate better with its student constituents. This is the recipe for a successful year of student representation on Student Senate, and hopefully the new senators will follow this recipe.