Student Senate Moderator Ryan McWeeney. Photo by James McIntosh.
After spending four years and four terms on Student Senate, senior Ryan McWeeney has found a voice that represents both himself and others, getting ready to take his next political step.
As Moderator of the Assembly, McWeeney makes sure Student Senate meetings run efficiently, helps keep people from speaking out of line or using ad-hominem attacks and enforces that the proper decorum of debates are followed.
However, throughout the four years McWeeney has been a part of Senate, he has held many positions, including general senator; at-large senator; on-campus senator; member of the cultural committee; summer senate, rules and ethics committee member; reference officer and lastly, moderator.
Despite McWeeney’s initial thoughts of not joining Student Senate, he decided to take the risk and run for a position as a first year student in October of 2016 and has never looked back.
“I joined because I had decided that in college, I wanted to get on top of the opportunities I had sooner rather than later because when the time came for me to be a senior, I didn’t want to look back at what could have been,” McWeeney said. “When I came to URI as a first-year student, I lacked the confidence to be able to advocate for myself and others, I had a lot of issues that I thought would prevent me from being able to take advantage of opportunities that came my way.”
Taking full advantage of the opportunities available to him, McWeeney stated that Senate helped him find his own voice as well as his passion for helping the voices of others be heard.
“Having this position brings you an incredible amount of privilege to advocate for your constituents in a way that they can’t,” McWeeney said. “I didn’t want to see problems just get kicked under the rug, I wanted to actually be a hand that changed things.”
McWeeney said that he feels very thankful to be able to have the opportunity to make a difference on campus for those who feel as though they are not being heard, who feel as though their efforts and insights are not being acknowledged, and who do not have the means or resources to speak to the administration themselves.
“I believe in constructive criticism, not destructive, so running for Senate I knew I would be able to talk to the administration,” McWeeney said. “Senate helped me find my voice, it helped me overcome my speech impediment, it helped me manage my anxiety and time management issues and it helped me feel empowered to help others less fortunate than myself.”
Through being in the Student Senate, McWeeney has found his passion and purpose in life and will be attending law school in the fall. McWeeney plans to study and become a public-interest lawyer, a position that he described as “an occupation to help people less privileged than yourself and advocating for progressive change through the law.”
After McWeeney graduates, his legacy will live on with his sister, Donna Osgood, who joined Senate after his encouragement.
“My brother is the reason I joined Senate in the first place,” Osgood said. “Ryan has always pushed me further, telling me that I had the potential to do more.”
Osgood stated that not only did McWeeney push her to run for Senate, but that he has also helped her with her positions as well such as guiding her through writing her first bill which will help many students that have been victimized by domestic and dating violence. Even after McWeeney graduates, Osgood believes that his impact on Senate will live on.