Associated Student Government condemns Ohio Senate Bill 83

At Miami University’s Associated Student Government’s (ASG) April 25 meeting, the sitting senators voted to condemn Ohio’s Senate Bill 83 (S.B. 83).

The resolution acquired 113 sponsors before being voted on. The authors, Melinda Barman, Venus Harvey and Katie Dunn, involved students in and outside ASG for sponsors.

“This bill goes against everything that Miami University stands for as a liberal arts college, majors that we teach and organizations that we have on campus,” Barman said.

The voting resulted in two ‘no’ votes out of the 28 present senators. Senators Troy Parks and John Cioffi both voted no.

Student organizations suspended

ASG also imposed sanctions on two student organizations after its oversight committee investigated the organizations following two funding hearings. The two organizations, Comparative Education club and Racquetball club, both filed for funding twice for the spring semester.

Following these funding hearings, the oversight committee opened an investigation on the organizations' fulfillment of their Red Brick Rewards tier.

It was found that the organizations, which have the same president, Yanning He, did not meet the requirements for the second tier of Red Brick Rewards.

ASG voted to suspend both clubs, which allows them to later meet the requirements they do not currently have and then be fully reinstated and recognized.

Executive cabinet elections

Leo Ambris, a junior political science major was elected secretary for infrastructure and sustainability. Ambris was not involved in ASG prior to this election and ran unopposed.

“I want to increase student awareness and education. I want to reduce the amount of plastic on campus and I want to improve the accessibility on our campus,” Ambris said when presenting his platform.

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Shelby Alford, a junior philosophy and psychology major, was elected secretary of safety and wellness. The former senator ran unopposed on a platform based around resource availability.

“I found that we have a lot of resources here at Miami,” Alford said. “It's just whether or not students know about them.”

Alford said she is currently working with Kimberly Moore, the dean of students, to create a universal application to educate students, faculty and staff about safety resources on campus.

Patrick Houlihan, a sophomore political science major, was elected secretary of governmental relations over two other Miami students. Houlihan’s platform revolved around voter education and engagement for students.

“I want to do regular tabling for voter registration leading up to the general election in the primary election next year,” Houlihan said. “I want to distribute posters regularly across campus to educate people to make sure that we build success and continue to spread the word among the student body.”

Eli Davies, a junior political science and urban planning major, was reelected as parliamentarian. This is his second term, and he expects to build off the platform he built last year.

“This year I'm really for this campaign and really focusing and drilling down on specific things and a much more actionable phase,” Davies said. “One part of my platform is mentorship. Just helping senators feel confident to speak for themselves and maneuver themselves through parliamentary procedure during Senate.”

Lucas Orlando, a sophomore political science and philosophy major, was elected speaker pro tempore after being nominated from the floor. Orlando’s platform included building relationships between senators and faculty to create more opportunities for change.

“I support a leadership strategy of supporting from within rather than leading from afar,” Orlando said. “I want to give senators room to do what they do best and I want to support that.”

ASG will hold its next meeting in the 2023 fall semester.

turmankd@miamioh.edu