The Undergraduate Student Government Senate will double in size next year and the honors program may be revamped as some of many proposed changes discussed at yesterday’s USG cabinet meeting.
USG President Eddie Pauline announced the senate will consist of 54 members next year, more than double the current number.
“I think it’s ridiculous to think that 26 students can reach out to 42,000,” Pauline said. “Having one representative on south campus to talk to 4,000 is a challenge, so we’ve broken that down to have five senators.”
Pauline said many people at Ohio State don’t know who their representatives are, and he is hoping the increase in the number of senators will allow leaders to work more closely with people they represent.
The USG cabinet also discussed proposed changes to election campaign laws. If the changes are passed, campaigning would be reduced to the week and a half leading up to the election. Candidates would have a $1,000 spending limit and their campaign Web sites would be accessible only through the Elections Governance Board’s Web site.
For the most part, the cabinet members said they thought all the proposed changes would be beneficial.
“I’m not a huge fan of having the candidates’ Web sites running through EGB’s Web site,” said John Payne, the co-director of policy for USG. “I’m more a free speech person, and I feel that violates their rights to get their message out, but overall the new changes seem pretty fair.”
The cabinet also discussed OSU’s honors program. Pauline will give a State of the University address Tuesday, when he will discuss ideas for revising the honors program.
“About 20 percent of students are in the honors program,” Pauline said. “It gets a lot of funding, and that takes away a lot from the other 80 percent. I think that’s a problem.”
At many colleges, most of the students enter the honors program after they start college, often in their sophomore or junior year. At OSU, the vast majority of students enter the honors program before they take their first class.
Pauline said it might be more effective if OSU took a similar approach, choosing students already enrolled in the university. Pauline also said OSU uses the honors program in an effort to attract students.
“Ohio State is worried that if they don’t bait students with the honors program, they won’t come here,” Pauline said.
Melissa Rocco, director of internal affairs for USG, said she would not have come to OSU if not for the honors program. Many members of the cabinet said the honors program has a lot of problems, and often students are only in the program because of priority scheduling.
Rocco said her experience in the honors program in the Fisher College of Business was tremendous, and that many people she knew in the program agreed with her. She said there are major differences in the honors program at each college, and it might not be the best decision to make universal changes in the honors program.
Pauline will give his State of the University address at 7 p.m. Tuesday in room 300 of the Journalism Building.
