Ohio State’s Undergraduate Student Government is holding a launch party for Buckeye Action Network today on The Oval. The online network is an effort to provide students with federal, state and local government-related news pertinent to OSU students.
“We really envision BAN becoming much bigger and more complex over the next year and continuing to grow and be an asset to students,” said Rachael Swetnam, USG’s associate director of government relations.
BAN will provide information about elections and other hot topics.
“The program also provides students with links on how to find their legislators, contact appropriate government officials for specific issues, as well as provides students with important documents such as relevant form letters and legislation,” said Rimar Villasenor, USG director of government relations.
Students are so busy with classes, work and extra curricular activities, that it is hard to stay on top of the news, said Swetnam, a fourth-year in philosophy.
“BAN hopes to cut out some of the leg work for students by sorting through the university’s resources for news and providing short summaries and links to news articles that we think are relevant and interesting,” she said.
The BAN Web site is already up, with links to articles and government Web sites along with information about political events and government bills. College health insurance, rape assistance and crackdowns on towing companies are some of the subjects covered.
USG members will be answering questions from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on The Oval.
Students can sign up to receive e-mails on The Oval or the BAN Web site.
“With their registration, they will receive our updates directly to their e-mail boxes,” said Villasenor, a third-year in marketing and psychology.
The BAN Web site is usg.osu.edu/ban.
