Citing tensions among Boston University students and Brookline police and residents, the Student Union called for greater communication among the groups at its third meeting of the year last night at the Photonics Center.
The Union will advocate more discussion between BU students in Brookline and non-student residents, reported City Affairs Director Jesse Kramer and spokesman Brandon Epstein. The Union is also inviting students who live in Brookline to share their thoughts at a town hall meeting Thursday in the Academy Room of the George Sherman Union.
While the Union does not condone illegal behavior, it must represent all students, including those who may be causing disturbances in Brookline, said Union President Adil Yunis.
“We would like to work with [BU students in Brookline] to emphasize the image [BU] wants to present,” said Yunis, a College of Arts and Sciences senior. “We also want to let Brookline residents know that your average BU student is respectful.”
The Union also expressed interest in building a sense of community and mutual understanding between Brookline residents and BU students.
“The residents of Brookline see us as the enemy,” said Kramer, a CAS senior. “We want to assert that that is totally untrue.”
In other business, Campus Safety Committee chairman Leo Gameng said a letter will be drafted and sent to state senators advocating a bill to establish a Campus Rape Advisory Council within the state Senate. Gameng gave few details about the letter but said BU’s involvement is important.
“This can be a measure that we can use to show state senators we care about the issue,” Gameng said.
Academic Affairs Committee chairman Matt Seidel and committee members Jonathan Pasquale and Kyle Getz presented the Academic Advising Proposal Alpha, a starting point for the Union to discuss academic advising concerns. The goal is to make advising accessible, useful and more helpful in certain colleges and possibly include a section on the Student Link listing each student’s graduation requirements.
Seidel, a CAS sophomore, also proposed putting end-of-semester teacher evaluations online so students will have more time to complete them, instead of filling them out during class.
CAS sophomore Dan Chizzoniti said the Residence Life Committee’s goals include revamping the laundry system, providing condoms in dorms, having bathrooms cleaned on weekends, providing sanitary boxes in women’s restrooms and turning the Warren Towers patio by the laundry room into a “fun area.”
The Social Affairs Committee discussed new advertising tactics to increase student awareness of campus events. Some ideas include installing informational electronic boards that would scroll event information and creating a Facebook.com application specifically for BU students to provide event updates.
The GA also confirmed Pasquale, a School of Management senior, as chairman of the Technology Committee.