n Sometimes, when I read about what is going on with the Boston University Student Union, I feel like the politics here on Commonwealth Avenue can be worse than the politics on Pennsylvania Avenue (“Treasurer Hunt,” Feb. 27, p. 6).

Now don’t get me wrong. I know how valuable a student union can be at a university, especially one with more than 16,000 undergraduate students. The Union has the great power and responsibility of relaying student concerns and proposing policies to the administration that can affect each and every one of us. I personally haven’t attended any meetings of the Union here on campus, so I can’t say from experience how successful it has been in the past few years.

Thus, most of my information about the Union has come from The Daily Free Press. Searching online at the Free Press’s website for the phrase “Student Union” brings up articles with headlines such as “Clock Ticking for Union,” “The (Sad) State of the Union,” “Union President Calls for New Direction, Focus” and “Union Delays Vote on Rep. Modifications.”

I know politics and disagreements exist in all areas of government (both nationally and locally), but the Union, at least recently, seems to have more instances of arguments and setbacks as opposed to instances of passing amendments and victories for the students. Whether this happens to be the truth, an instance of slanted reporting or just my misguided perception, this is what I pick up as a student who does not attend Union meetings and resorts to the Free Press for my news on the Union.

I know I am likely not alone in this respect, but maybe with more student interest in the Union, there might be more opportunities for success. Maybe other policies need to be changed. Maybe the Union needs to reach out more and communicate better with the student body. I don’t have any magic solution, but I feel that either the Union isn’t communicating its successes with the student body, or that the Union itself – being the extremely valuable resource that it is – needs to make some changes to become that valuable resource.

To those who serve on the Union: Thank you for the time and effort that I know you put into attending meetings and thinking of ways to improve student life on campus. My opinions are in no way judgments of your character or of your commitment to the students here at BU. I just hope someday soon both you and I can read about the Union’s recent successes in the Free Press, whether that comes from changes in reporting or from changes in the Union itself.

Tim Kelly

CAS ’09