Campus, News

SG pushes more changes through in fall ‘12 than previous terms

Boston University Student Government officials said they are pleased with their accomplishments during the fall 2012 term, including bus advertising, break busing and 24-hour study spaces.

“Early in the year, we had a leadership symposium and got a bunch of underclassmen interested in Student Government,” said SG Executive Vice President and President-Elect Aditya Rudra.

Since September, SG has approved vacation buses that will run in the spring 2013 semester, implemented student group advertising on the BU Shuttle, created 24-hour study spaces on campus, primarily in Shelton Hall, and built up student interest in SG, Rudra, a School of Management junior, said.

“This semester we’ve accomplished, it has been said, more than many administrations have accomplished in an entire year,” said SG President and College of Communication junior Dexter McCoy at the last SG meeting of the semester on Sunday.

Rudra said SG was also successful in reinstating a College of Fine Arts government at BU. CFA did have a president but was not holding any meetings or recognizing SG’s call to action, he said.

“We set up that organization,” Rudra said. “We created strong contacts between bodies.”

SG also saw proposals for a BU Good Samaritan policy, hosted talks on current U.S. sanctions on Iran and debated ways to encourage students to log community service hours to pledge to the Campaign for BU, Rudra said.

Rudra said SG worked tirelessly over the semester on its gender-neutral housing initiative, which the administration shut down indefinitely Sunday. Over the past two years, SG collected 2,000 positive survey results and 700 handwritten signatures in support of gender neutral housing. SG members also wrote a great in-depth five year five-stage proposal for implementing some form of gender-neutral housing, said Caitlin Seele at Sunday’s meeting.

“What we were doing actually was really important,” Seele, SMG junior and SG advocacy committee chair, said. “We sent it onwards to Dean Elmore and the administration to work on the logistics of it.”

Seele said administration officials called SG members before Thanksgiving break to say gender-neutral housing was not going to come to campus this spring.

Cherice Hunt, SG director of communication, said SG is in the process of making an informative video on the importance of gender-neutral housing to educate the BU community.

“One thing that we are going to be able to accomplish is a more informed student body,” Hunt, a COM junior, said. “That is very imperative to this entire mission because a lot of people still don’t know what GNH actually is.”

The spring 2013 executive board won an unopposed election in November with each candidate drawing about 1,300 votes. The new administration will serve a special term from January to May and another election will be held in May 2013 after SG voted in October to revert to the original academic year term from May to May.

Under new leadership, SG members said they hope to increase safety on and off campus, get the vacation bus program up and running and increase student interest in SG.

In his closing address Sunday night, McCoy said much of SG’s progress this semester can be attributed to the dedication of the senators.

“It’s been exciting, it’s been a lot of hard work, it’s been a lot of stress, but it’s been a lot of fun,” McCoy said. “But what I remember most and what I will remember most is the difference that you made in terms of your passion and the power that you felt.”

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