Representatives came to Boston University’s Student Government Senate Monday to speak about initiatives meant to provide safety and cultural competency on campus.
Liza Moskowitz, a representative from the BU Panhellenic Council, proposed for SG Senate approval The Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act of 2013, a piece of federal legislation sponsored by U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions that aims to amend the Internal Revenue Service Code of 1986 to allow charitable donations to university-affiliated organizations such as sororities, fraternities and various religious organizations operating in their own spaces on campus to be put toward safety measures.
Moskowitz said in her proposal that because BU does not have official fraternity or sorority housing, the bill could potentially aid other groups.
“She addressed them [the points] pretty well saying that it’s not just for frats and sororities,” said Will Horne, vice president of finance. “It’s for the Catholic Center. It’s for Hillel. It’s for all those organizations that can’t improve their buildings and that hopefully if this goes nationally, will be able to do that on their own.”
The Senate voted to support the act with only one vote in opposition, meaning that Moskowitz will be able to voice Senate’s support of the act on a national scale.
“That was a unique opportunity for Senate to have a little bit larger of an impact on a more wide scale than just the small population of BU, but students across the nation, [and] really those in the Boston area who deal with hazards,” said Joe Ferme, executive president of SG and a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences.
Also on Monday, members from SG’s Department of Social Affairs put forth an initiative to develop cultural competency training for freshman orientation. The initiative would expand on the sexual assault and alcohol education already provided by the BU administration during orientation.
“Orientation is a great way to get access to freshman and to make sure everyone is on the same page from the very start of their BU career and to make sure everyone continues to be on that page,” said Horne, a sophomore in the School of Management.
Robbie Brussell, director of communications, said though BU hosts multicultural events, there is sometimes a lack of connection between events on campus.
“They mentioned during the presentation that there’s not a lot of carry over when they hold one event at one time and that’s just important to span that over a long period of time,” said Brussell, a junior in SMG. “That consistency is important and making students more aware of things on campus. There might be a big push for one event or something like that and then it kind of waters out.”
During the question-and-answer position of the meeting, members from Social Affairs emphasized cultural diversity and expansion of religious awareness.
“Everyone should be educated about other cultures that they’ve not necessarily been exposed to yet, especially as freshman,” said Avi Levy, a senator for CAS. “They experience a whole new environment once they come to school here so they’ll begin to really engage in that new environment [which] is really important to promoting and ensuring very open and strong BU community where everyone feels comfortable.”
The Academic Affairs Committee also introduced for approval campus-wide initiatives to help students with essay writing in preparation for final exams.
The senators voted unanimously and passed a budget proposal bringing CAS writing tutors into on-campus housing to aid students more directly. The tutors will be available April 28, 29 and 30 for 20-minute sessions to help with writing for finals and paper editing.
“It’s something that students really benefit from,” Ferme said. “If you live in West, and you don’t have the time to walk all the way to 100 Bay State Road. We bring tutors right to [you]. So that’s something that’s really effective especially during the end of the semester.”
