Approximately 50 General Assembly members discussed this semester’s committee agendas and potential amendments to the Boston University Student Union Constitution, including issues regarding proportional representation, at the second Union meeting of the semester last night.
After hearing from guest speakers from the Dean of Students Office and the Student Activities Office, who both discussed the role of their offices on campus, Union Vice President Mark DiCristofaro introduced South Campus Residence Hall Association Vice President Jesse Kramer, who authored the amendments.
Kramer proposed amending Article IV, Section Two of the constitution, which concerns residence hall associations. The Constitution currently states that “each residence hall will send one representative to the General Assembly.”
The amendment calls for proportional representation.
“For all residence halls that house more than 500 residents, another member shall be added to the general assembly for each additional 500 residents who reside therein,” the amendment read. “These additional members will be elected the title ‘Student Union Assemblyperson’ and are responsible for reporting their dealings in the Student Union to their respective residence hall associations once a month.”
Kramer’s second proposed amendment would change Article VII, Section Two of the constitution, which concerns school and college governments’ representation within the Union.
Instead of sending one representative, school and college governments will have one representative in the Union for every 1,000 enrolled students.
Kramer said he proposed the amendments not only to increase student involvement in the Union but to also fairly represent the student body.
“The Student Union is supposed to represent all students on campus,” the College of Arts and Sciences junior said. “It makes sense that students are represented equally in the Student Union.”
DiCristofaro explained the purpose of amendments.
“We’re always working to have the most functioning [Union] model that we can,” the College of Communication junior said.
DiCristofaro allotted about 15 minutes of discussion on the amendments. During discussion, some Union members expressed concern that the amendment would prevent smaller college governments and RHAs from having a prominent voice in the Union.
COM junior Neil St. Clair, the representative from the Political Consortia, said proportional representation in the RHAs may bring many underclassmen into the Student Union and neglect to recruit upperclassman representation in the Union.
Assembly member Jack Wray said he felt freshmen may not know enough about the university to be qualified to vote on Union policy.
“A lot of freshmen don’t know enough about the school,” the COM freshman said. “We’ve only been here a couple of months.”
Wray said bringing more representatives into the Union may not accurately represent the students in the residence hall, but rather just represent the students who attend RHA meetings.
College of General Studies freshman Justin Breton said freshmen are essential to the Union because they are the future.
“The freshmen are the people who are going to be here,” he said.
Following discussion of the amendments, assembly members broke into committees for 10 minutes to discuss potential committee efforts for the semester and meeting times.
The Academic Committee will continue many of the same efforts of last spring’s Union Academic Committee, including getting course syllabi online and improving academic counseling.
The Dining Committee will try to expand where convenience points can be used on campus, as well as survey the dining halls to find ways to improve on-campus dining.
According to School of Management representative Scott Linzmeyer, although last year’s Dining Committee already conducted surveys, they currently have “no idea what happened to them.”
Linzmeyer said this year’s committee will use the results of these surveys to reform dining around campus.