“If we had 3,000 students protesting, I might think there was student concern on this issue,” he said. “I don’t think the president is under any pressure to make changes.”

Those words, spoken by Boston University Chancellor John Silber to The Boston Globe, are a call to action.

A review of the Guest Policy has been forced onto the plate of the University administration, served by the Student Union and its 78-page compilation of student testimonials, outside opinion and survey results. Unions of the past have been oft maligned for a lack of productivity or for misrepresenting the general student population.

But this slate has done its part. It has made the diplomatic step of proclaiming its willingness to work with the administration toward a policy change, and in that capacity, its role should remain. However, Silber has laid the groundwork for a movement that reaches outside the political realm.

Silber has dared the student body to stand up for itself, and groups such as BU Free, the Union’s cohort in fighting for change, must now meet the challenge. With President Jon Westling pledging a response within two weeks, the action must be swift, and for the purposes of validating the gaudy complaints of the Union survey, it must meet Silber’s standard.

Inspiring 3,000 BU students to mobilize may be a chore, but it can be done. Since Silber defended the Policy last week in a letter to this paper, mailboxes have overflowed with responses, including the concerns of City Councilor Mike Ross. However, talk is cheap, evident by Silber’s own words. Seventy-eight pages isn’t pressure; but a unified, active segment of the student body could make a loud and clear statement.

That statement will echo, too, because the major Boston media has already begun reporting on the Union’s effort. If students were to protest, the sounds of a vocal student outcry would reverberate throughout the city, undoubtedly dumping on the University the type of negative publicity the administration would prefer to avoid.

BU Free has one purpose: to change the Guest Policy. John Silber, the man under whose watch the current policy was proposed, instituted and enforced, has given the group the ground rules by which to complete its mission. The Union proposal has taken the process halfway. Now BU students need to match the numbers with faces. Any initiative must be well-organized and wholly supported.

Any protest of less than 3,000 people will not only undermine the Union’s work, but it will also make Silber right: If 20 percent of undergraduates cannot agree, the administration has no reason to change a thing.

Marsh Plaza awaits.