Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore spoke at Monday night’s Student Union meeting regarding the goals and future of the organization, citing Union’s presence and its understanding of “cool” as critical to its development this year.
“The presence of all of us is important,” Elmore said. “Presence is understanding how do we get to a point where we can say to a student that we acknowledge who you are, that we listen to you and that we can find ways to engage in those questions that are important to you.”
In Union’s second formal meeting of the year, Elmore addressed about 60 members of the organization, stressing the partnership between Union and the Dean of Students office.
“What is inspirational? What is attractive to people? What should growth be about?” Elmore asked the Union members.
“I find value in the questions we ask before I find value in the answers,” he said. “I urge you as a Student Union to think about the important questions, like what is different between the Student Union this year as opposed to last year? What is important about what we do? How do we inspire those people out there, particularly their first year?”
Student Union president Howard Male, a senior in the School of Management and School of Hospitality Administration, followed the Dean’s address with words of his own about the future of Union.
“Our relationship with the Dean of Students Office is a give and take relationship,” Male said. “The Dean of Students office is a great partner to make sure we’re making changes that move with the changing times.”
Male and Elmore both discussed the value in two-way communication and the significance of the university’s upcoming school spirit day.
“On October 28, we thought that we can all sport scarlet and white gear as a spirit day,” Elmore said. “It’s not just about scarlet and white. It’s about your organization that says, ‘It’s about BU today.’”
Male agreed.
“We want to make sure we’re building pride and make sure there aren’t people that are unreachable on campus,” he said. “Even within this organization there shouldn’t be anyone unreachable.”
Both Elmore and Male also agreed that Union committees are crucial in ensuring that students’ wishes are not only represented, but also implemented. Members of each of Union’s three committees – events, outreach and advocacy – gave an overview of this year’s initiatives.
“We want to foster positive and personal relationships with members of the administration as much as possible,” said Jack Moriarty, a College of Arts and Sciences sophomore and the chair of Union’s advocacy committee. “We have three big-ticket items this year: study spaces, smoking and a partnership with the Center for Career Development.”
Alyssa Sarkis, a School of Education sophomore and chair of the outreach committee, stressed the foundational element of gathering data to push Union projects.
“Right off the bat we’re working with the PR department and BU Today to get out a poll, and get data really fast on a variety of things,” Sarkis said. “Outreach is really the foundation for all the other committees, the basis for all other agents.”
Union’s meeting began with the formal appointment of Andrew Wasserstein, a sophomore in the College of Communication, as the head of public relations.
“Last year Student Union hosted a lot of great events, but they didn’t necessarily promote the Union’s message,” he said. “So with the events this year, we really want to focus on that for our events.”
